Prime Minister François Legault does not appear to intend to touch executive bonuses, but acknowledges that there are too many performance bonuses handed out in state-owned companies every year.
“Total compensation must be competitive with the private sector,” Mr. Legault replied to Québec Solidaire Parliamentary Chair Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. “In some cases, it’s good to have bonuses when you’re challenging yourself to measure a leader’s performance.”
On Wednesday, the National Assembly again debated the payment of variable remuneration to managers and employees of state-owned companies.
Mr Legault last week defended the $6.3 million salary with bonuses paid to Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec CEO Charles Emond.
In recent weeks, the $30.62 million bonus payment to Hydro-Québec has drawn media attention, as has the $4-5 million to Loto-Québec and the approximately $9 million to Quebec alcohol company Société.
In law
On Wednesday, Québec Solidaire proposed to ban bonuses for members of “the board of directors, executive officers and supervisory staff” as part of the detailed examination of Bill 4 to strengthen the governance of state-owned companies and amend other legal provisions to cap a salary based on the lowest salary to set.
Treasury Secretary Eric Girard closed the door on the idea of ending bonuses, saying the bill “does not contain a provision to control executive pay”.
Mr Girard also mentioned that he disagreed with the idea of eliminating variable pay for all executives.
Quebec Solidaire’s amendment was rejected.
Bill 4 was also intended to allow the government to remunerate and cover expenses for all members of the board of directors of Crown Corporations. Previously only administrators of commercial government companies had access to it.
language change
In 2015, when the CAQ opposed it, the speech was not the same about bonuses. Mr. Legault found the payment of $22 million in bonuses to Hydro-Québec “scandalous”.
For his part, François Bonnardel, now Transport Minister, argued that it was “nonsense” to pay bonuses to a state-owned company that, like SAQ, has a monopoly.
On Wednesday Prime Minister Legault reiterated that he wants to reduce the number of staff who have access to bonuses. He specified that this change cannot be made quickly, however, as certain employees have variable pay contracts.