Government-funded housing agency staff got almost $27M in bonuses last year
Employees at Canada’s government-funded housing agency received almost $27 million in bonuses in 2022, according to a new report.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) obtained documents through access to information requests, revealing that the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has dished out $75 million in bonuses since the beginning of 2020.
The internal CMHC records showed that last year, 2,292 employees got a combined bonus of $26,867,455. That’s over 90% of the Crown corporation’s staff with an average bonus of $11,700 per person.
CMHC hands out bonuses, big paycheques and lavish executive pay. All while countless Canadians give up on the dream of owning a home.
They fail at their job. You pay for their bonus. Sound fair? pic.twitter.com/YuqWgMRjia
— Franco Terrazzano (@franco_nomics) July 25, 2023
“If the CMHC’s number one goal is housing affordability, then it doesn’t make sense to shower employees with bonuses and balloon its C-suite compensation while Canadians can’t afford to buy a home,” said CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano in the report. “This is another example of the government rewarding failure with taxpayer-funded bonuses.”
In an email statement to Daily Hive, a CMHC spokesperson says the organization has commercial, profit-generating operations like its mortgage insurance business.
“Since 2017, CMHC has returned $18.525 billion in the form of dividend payments to our shareholder, the Government of Canada,” stated the spokesperson. “This is in addition to our public mandate to deliver housing programs on behalf of and with funding from the Government of Canada.”
The corporation added that bonuses are important to help it retain employees needed to carry out its work and deliver programs for Canadians. This includes programs that support affordable and social housing.
“CMHC is committed to recognizing employee performance and contributions to the organization through cash compensation, which includes a blend of base pay and incentive pay,” explained the spokesperson.
“ The rates of pay for CMHC employees are competitive and reflective of current labour market conditions. Bonuses are based on an individual employee’s performance according to their roles and responsibilities.”
The CTF reported that the average salary of the agency’s nine executives rose to $697,667 in 2022. The CMHC says that this is incorrect.
“The total compensation stated in the ATIP request is $4,417,647 which is significantly different from the total in the CTF’s table which was $6,279,000,” clarified the spokesperson. “Therefore, the average compensation stated in the article is incorrect and should be $441,765.”
There are now 931 CMHC employees that receive more than $100,000 in annual salary, according to documents obtained by the CTF.
In the past five years, the number of CMHC staffers taking six-figure annual salaries has grown by 199 employees or 27%.
The CTF is condemning these “taxpayer-funded bonuses” given the housing affordability crisis Canada has been going through.
In Vancouver, a recent report found that it would take an annual household income of well over $600,000 to afford a 1,500 sq ft home.
Prospective homebuyers in Calgary also need deep pockets to afford a home.
And this report from March found that many Canadians think they’ll never own a home at this rate.
“In the real world, when you fail at your job, you might get the boot, not a big bonus,” said Terrazzano. “Canadians need more homes, not more highly paid government executives and bureaucrats taking big bonuses.”
In Budget 2023, the federal government said it plans to work with Crown corporations to “ensure they achieve comparable spending reductions, which would account for an estimated $1.3 billion over four years starting in 2024-25 and $450 million ongoing.”
The CTF thinks Ottawa needs to do more.
“Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland should find savings by ending the bonuses at failing Crown corporations and taking some air out of CMHC’s ballooning C-suite,” Terrazzano said.
Follow Channels and Categories