Crown corporations' $190M bonuses slammed by Canadian taxpayers watchdog group
A watchdog group in Canada is questioning the decision of some Crown corporations to hand out $190 million in bonuses.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has spoken out on bonuses awarded by Crown corporations, citing worries about tax spending. The citizens’ advocacy group is a federally incorporated, not-for-profit citizens’ group “dedicated to lower taxes, less waste, and accountable government.” Records obtained by CTF reveal corporations handed out over $190 million in bonuses during the 2024-2025 fiscal year, drawing sharp criticism from the group.
“Bonuses are for when you do a good job; they shouldn’t be handed out like participation trophies,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF federal director. “Taxpayers can’t afford to bankroll big bonus cheques each and every year for highly paid government executives. Here’s a crazy idea: maybe the government should stop handing out bonuses when it’s borrowing tens of billions of dollars every year.”
What are Crown corporations?
JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock
According to the Government of Canada, federal Crown corporations provide services to the Canadian public and operate in various sectors of the economy.
“They are wholly owned by the government but are not normally subject to the government’s human resource and administrative policies,” reads the website. “The governance framework for Crown corporations varies with the commercial environment in which each corporation operates and the extent to which a corporation depends on parliamentary appropriations for its funding.”
Crown corporations respond
BalkansCat/Shutterstock
Corporations that handed out the highest bonuses include the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Export Development Canada (EDC), Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the Royal Canadian Mint, and VIA Rail.
| Crown corporation | Total bonuses (2024-2025 fiscal year) | Percentage of executives who got a bonus | Average executive bonus |
| Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) | $60,742,616 | 100 per cent | $216,093 |
| Export Development Canada (EDC) | $45,044,281 | 79 per cent | $143,323 |
| Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) | $30,636,283 | 99 per cent | $42,982 |
| Royal Canadian Mint | $12,155,211 | N/A | N/A |
| VIA Rail | $11,031,412 | 100 per cent | $110,768 |
BDC issued more bonuses than other corporations, with its executives receiving bonuses exceeding $60 million. The average executive received an average bonus of $216,093.
In an email to Daily Hive, Phil Taylor, the director of external communications at BDC, pointed out that, as a self-financing Crown corporation, BDC’s expenditures are paid out of its own revenues and doesn’t receive appropriations from the government.
“In terms of bonuses, these reflect the continuous year-over-year record growth in clients served, while maintaining fiscal discipline,” explained Taylor.
He added that BDC showed a 40 per cent growth in clients served over five years, with approximately 40,000 new small businesses receiving financing, advice, or investment.
“Again, this remarkable growth was delivered at no cost to the taxpayer,” he stated.
Similarly, Zoé de Bellefeuille, a senior advisor of external communications at EDC, stated that employee compensation comes from the corporation’s operating revenues and that EDC issues dividends to the Government of Canada.
JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock
“We frequently benchmark our compensation program against comparable jobs and organizations to ensure they are fair and consistent with the broader market,” explained Bellefeuille.
In an email to Daily Hive, CMHC clarified that employees don’t receive bonuses. Instead, they receive a base pay and an incentive pay that depends on their performance. It also explained that the $30,636,283 figure represents the total incentives paid to all CMHC employees. On average, executives received incentives of $42,982, totalling $3,653,453.
The Royal Canadian Mint said that the total sum of bonuses was paid to 1,060 union and non-union staff.
Alex Reeves, senior manager, public affairs, at the Royal Canadian Mint, said, “As a Crown corporation mandated to generate profits to fund its own operations, the Mint does not rely on government appropriations to operate and compensate its workforce, which may include the payment of annual performance bonuses.”
However, while some corporations are self-funded, others, such as VIA Rail, receive government funding.
According to VIA Rail, employees’ salaries are composed of two parts: a fixed portion and a variable portion, or “bonus,” that’s already built into the compensation policy for non-unionized employees. Employees receive these bonuses based on their performance each year.
“In 2024, bonuses were paid to 727 employees. These bonuses were based on several elements linked to financial performance,” stated a VIA Rail representative. “This compensation system is in line with all other Crown corporations in Canada and conforms to the guidelines of the Treasury Board.”
“It’s a pretty bad look”
Erman Gunes/Shutterstock
Terrazzano argued that, taxpayer-funded or not, Crown corporations should not be awarding bonuses.
“If you’re a federal Crown corporation, you are essentially a government entity and owned by Canadians,” he told Daily Hive in a phone interview. “And with just the state of our national finances and our economy, at the very best, it’s a pretty bad look to be handing out bonuses.”
Speaking of optics, he criticized CMHC’s decision to give out bonuses at a time when Canadians are struggling through a housing affordability crisis. He also pointed out that, as VIA Rail executives received bonuses of $110,000, the company was incurring hundreds of millions of dollars in operating costs and had received government bailouts to cover its losses over the years.
“That’s a major problem: that many of these government departments, agencies, and corporations have such an entitlement to other people’s money,” Terrazzano said.
“The Carney government says that it’s requiring department agencies and Crown corporations to find up to 15 per cent in savings by 2028. Well, shouldn’t the first thing on the chopping block be to end the bonuses?”