While the overwhelming majority of organizations operating in the municipal sector are run at arm's length by volunteers and staff with modest incomes, a small handful of them offer compensation equivalent to, and sometimes much higher than, that of the Quebec premier and Quebec ministers is his cabinet.
Posted at 8:17 am
Pierre Saint-Arnaud The Canadian Press
A comprehensive analysis by The Canadian Press of approximately 3,700 T3010 returns submitted to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for 2021, 2022 and 2023 shows that the directors of 14 of the organizations audited received compensation in the region of $160,000 received up to $200,000 and sometimes much more1. This is a tiny percentage of one third of 1% (0.38%) of the total.
This area was chosen as a reference point because it is the one in which we find the salaries of Prime Minister François Legault ($196,193 for 2021-2022) and his ministers ($167,482 for 2021-2022). 2
A mass of volunteers and small staff
The Canadian Press analysis, conducted from June 2022 to September 2023, targeted organizations recognized by the CRA as “registered charities,” based in Quebec and classified in the “anti-poverty” category.3
The T3010, public documents that can be viewed on the CRA website, contains a section where we find the ten highest salaries of organizations, organized by range. The ranges that caught our attention are the four ranges from $160,000 to $350,000 and the fifth, highest, which simply says “$350,000 and up.”
Before we go any further, we would like to mention that the work of the vast majority of these organizations relies on volunteers or a workforce with modest incomes. In fact, 1120 (30.3%) of the total work exclusively on a voluntary basis and do not pay a salary. Nearly 500 of these NPOs (13.43%) have no employees earning more than $40,000, and 1,615 (43.75%) have no employees earning more than $80,000. In other words, more than 87% of charities pay their employees less than $80,000 or nothing at all.
One Drop: unprecedented generosity in Quebec
At the other end of this census, however, first and foremost is the One Drop Foundation, founded by billionaire Guy Laliberté and whose mission is to “alleviate poverty by improving water quality or promoting access.” There is one person receiving compensation of “more than $350,000” and three others in the $200,000 to $250,000 range. The One Drop Foundation employs 33 people.
Foundation spokesman Herman Lampron explains: “The amounts stated in (T3010) correspond to the total compensation of Canadian employees. They therefore include both the salary and the foundation's participation in the payment of all social benefits and insurance from which all employees of the foundation benefit. »
The One Drop Foundation, he continues, “believes in providing all of its employees with compensation that is fair, equitable and competitive compared to the international market in which it operates.” »
“There is no embarrassment”
“It's not embarrassing, I find that a little surprising,” says Sylvie St-Onge, professor of management at HEC and expert in compensation management, governance and management consulting, in an interview with the administration after reading the data collected by The has Canadian Press. She emphasizes that, as elsewhere, it is the board that decides on executive compensation according to criteria that can be quite vague, especially when it comes to comparisons: “What are we comparing ourselves to?” Are we staying in Quebec? Are we going to Toronto? Are we comparing with another company that is not necessarily in the same industry, but has something similar in terms of the number of employees? It is the board that decides. »
We were also not provided with the comparisons cited, and this comparison argument is at odds with the fact that more than 99% of OBEs in Quebec do not have an employee earning $160,000 or more.
The Centraide case
However, it is the regulation cited by Centraide of Greater Montreal, which reports in its 2022 T3010 that one person has compensation in the range of $300,000 to $350,000, two in the range of $200,000 to $250,000 and six in the $160,000 to $200,000 section.
“The salaries of Centraide's directors and employees in the Greater Montreal area are neither higher nor lower than the salaries offered in the market for comparable organizations. They reflect the level of skills, experience and responsibilities required for each position,” says Annick Gagnon, communications consultant at Centraide.
Centraide is certainly a large organization with more than 130 full- and part-time employees that collects, manages and redistributes tens of millions per year. But is it worth paying so much? “It is up to the board to ask this question and to be aware that this is not a private company, but a company with a social orientation,” argues Sylvie St-Onge. “In your decision-making criteria there must be the idea of social responsibility, of giving to society, that the person at the top must be there for the mission. Additionally, the person at the helm of Centraide is not alone. There are a lot of volunteers and we have to be careful not to discourage them,” she adds.
The Starlight Children's Foundation, a Dorval-based organization that employs 21 people, is committed to providing moments of all kinds of happiness to children with serious and chronic illnesses, both in the hospital and after their stay. After reporting compensation in the range of $300,000 to $350,000 in 2020 and 2021, the organization reduced its manager spending in 2022, with one person reporting between $250,000 and $300,000 and two others reporting between $250,000 and was $300,000.
For her part, Finance Director Linda Stroude puts forward the comparative argument, explaining that the organization “uses compensation studies conducted across our industry to ensure salaries are competitive and to take into account the context of the pandemic as wages increased .” ”
The KBF Canada Foundation (King Baudouin Foundation, founded in 1976 by King Baudouin of Belgium, who reigned from 1951 to 1993) did not respond to our request for explanation. At the time of our research, the 2021 T3010 reported a single employee whose compensation ranged from $250,000 to $300,000. However, the pay stub also shown on the T3010 was $277,083, indicating this person's compensation. In 2022, the new T3010 reports the presence of 5 employees, including one this time in the $200,000-$250,000 range, the others all under $80,000, including three under $40,000. Almost all of this organization's income comes from donations of all kinds.
Next on this list is Industries Goodwill Renaissance Montréal Inc., known for its used goods sales counters. Renaissance pays a salary between $200,000 and $250,000. “We have engaged several external resources with expertise in compensation and competitiveness,” writes Board Chairman Yvon Arsenault. Citing “a highly competitive labor market,” he argues that “the complexity of Renaissance’s challenges, its business and governance model, requires the hiring of high-caliber managers.” It is worth mentioning that Renaissance employs by far the largest workforce of the organizations mentioned here, with almost 4,400 full- and part-time employees.
Paid better than the public
The case of the private CHSLD approved by The Wales Home in Cleveland, near Richmond in Estrie, is very interesting. Our first look took us to the 2022 T3010, where we found someone in the $160,000 to $200,000 price range. Responding to our initial request for a statement, General Manager Brendalee Piironen said: “All salaries of our employees, including executive salaries, are determined by the MSSS (Department of Health and Social Services) for CHSLD Wales Inc. as we have a contract with the CIUSSS de l have.” 'Estrie CHUS. We respect the government's pay scales.” The organization, whose fiscal year ends March 31, has since filed its 2023 T3010 with the CRA, this time specifying compensation between $200,000 and $250,000 and another between $160,000 and $200,000. dollars. This facility employs around 200 full- and part-time employees.
However, a check with the MSSS has taught us two things: “To the extent that the CHSLD Wales was approved on March 23 (2023), we cannot explain the remuneration awarded to the CEO as it corresponds to that of 2022, i.e. a then was the CHSLD a completely private company,” writes its spokesman Francis Martel. On the other hand, since its approval, the position of General Director of this CHSLD has been classified by the MSSS at the H4 level, the scale of which is between US$106,805 and US$146,964, well below that of US$200,000 and US$250,000. For comparison, the private CHSLD under the Berthiaume-du Tremblay agreement, which employs more than 420 full- and part-time employees, does not pay a salary above $160,000, although the position of general director is classified at the higher level H5, the range of which is between 119,517 and 164,456 US dollars. As the MSSS explains, “executive compensation may be increased based on additional income not tied to the MSSS (donations, private beds, etc.),” which is the case here.
Two special cases
Our research made it possible to identify two OBEs whose type of activity requires the presence of managers from the private sector, the first being L'Atelier la Arrow de Fer inc. (AFFI Logistics Group) based in Boucherville. This organization's 2023 T3010 reports that one person paid in the $250,000 to $300,000 range, another in the $200,000 to $250,000 range, and a third in the $160,000 to $200,000 range. AFFI employs more than 750 people, most of whom are people with physical or mental impairments, working primarily in factories that package, assemble and recondition equipment in the food, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications and information technology sectors.
This is a group of large SMEs, 40% of their income (13.3 million) comes from the government, but this subsidy “goes 100% to the employees and we increase the total wage bill by an additional 3 million employees who are with restrictions have to struggle,” explains Hugues Mousseau, member of the board of directors. The other 60% of AFFI's revenue comes from its commercial activities.
As for managers: “You need a certain profile and expertise to be able to lead such an organization. “We are looking for private sector leaders who are used to managing large SMEs, with a different mentoring context for this type of employee,” he continues.
Above all, he argues, all management salaries are covered by income from commercial activities. “This is extremely important in this context as it involves neither public money nor donations (AFFI does not collect donations). We are not in a dynamic of appropriation of public money or public donations,” he emphasizes.
Axia Services, another company that employs people with physical or mental disabilities, reports individual salaries in the range of $160,000 to $200,000. Axia did not respond to our request, but it is a company of the same type as AFFI Group, which according to its 2022-2023 annual report employs 771 people. Part of its revenue comes from governments (11.9 million or 36.6% of total revenue), the rest comes from its commercial activities in the areas of housekeeping, security and food and industrial packaging under subcontracting.
Just like the AFFI group, all public funds are paid out in the form of salaries to people with functional limitations. Salaries increase by 4.5 million from the company's sales to 16.4 million and the average hourly rate is $19.92, which is well above the minimum wage. Here, too, not a cent comes from donations, so management salaries are strictly linked to company sales.
On the back of the pack
The other charities classified by The Canadian Press in the anti-poverty category have only one person whose compensation reaches but does not exceed the $160,000 to $200,000 range.
This is the Breakfast Club based in Boucherville, which employs around a hundred people. According to T3010 2022, two-thirds of its revenue (68%) comes from governments. The organization forwarded our request to a PR firm, but they did not respond to us.
Moisson Montréal, which employs around 65 people, also pays remuneration in this range. “The determination of the compensation scale is the result of a rigorous benchmarking process carried out annually with a pool of colleagues consisting of 11 organizations of comparable size across Canada,” responded Hugues Mousseau. who is also a member of this board. He argues that general management is evaluated on a grid of 46 criteria, that Moisson Montréal is the largest food bank in Canada, and that its operations have a high level of complexity, with 300 community organizations in Montreal receiving and servicing the organization's food each week In addition to its employees, it has around 5,000 volunteers.
He adds that “Despite its philanthropic status, Moisson Montréal must overcome similar challenges to private companies in a competitive environment to maximize food donations from companies in the agri-food sector and attract competent and experienced leaders.”
The Old Brewery Mission, which employs more than 350 people to work with people experiencing homelessness, is also one of the OBEs paying ministerial remuneration. “The salary of a member of the Executive Board that has caught your attention was approved by the Board of Directors on the recommendation of the Governance Committee and the Human Resources Committee, based on a rigorous governance process that takes into account market data,” responded CEO Louis Audet. It said: “The board addressed internal and external equity in light of the available data for the health and social services sector, as well as the sector of NPOs of varying size and scope in Montreal.” […] To meet the complexity of operations and the scale of budgets to be managed, expertise and relevant experience commensurate with this compensation are required. »
No other major organization working in the area of homelessness in the metropolitan area (Dans la rue, Mission bon accueil, Accueil Bonneau, La Maison du père, l'Armée du Salvation) pays compensation above $120,000 to $160,000 and most do not exceed the $80,000 to $120,000 range. On the other hand, none of these organizations have as many employees as the Old Brewery Mission.
Finally, three other organizations pay remuneration at the level we seek, in this case the Ometz Agency, which has about 90 employees dedicated to supporting the employment and immigration of the Montreal Jewish community, and the Emmanuel Grégoire Company, which employs about 130 people are dedicating their efforts to helping the elderly, the disabled or people with social adjustment difficulties, especially former prisoners, drug addicts, etc. These last two organizations did not respond to our requests.
The third is the Mira Foundation, which in 2022 has surpassed the $80,000 to $120,000 range for the first time to, we are told, just shy of the $160,000 to $200,000 range. “Our general manager is one of the most recognized coaches in Canada and the United States,” explains Philippe Angers, CEO. He adds that this compensation is the result of comparisons and that “we are really at the lower end of the scale.”
Protection from a humanitarian disaster
However, the remuneration should in no way overshadow the work of these organizations, which, alongside all the OBEs committed to fighting poverty, care for those left behind who escape the cracks in the state safety net.
“Going forward, the need for these organizations will increase as wealth polarization increases. These committees will be necessary to defend the interests of the poorest or to make room for the homeless,” predicts Sylvie St-Onge. “We want to continue to have someone at the top of these organizations who is competent, but much more competent in behavior than in expertise.” A good mobilizer who is not there to line his pockets. »
The approximately 3,500 OBEs who remain on the ARC list and their tens of thousands of staff and volunteers could not disappear overnight without triggering a major humanitarian disaster. The aim of this analysis was simply to shed light on the few exceptions to compensation in this sector, where it is difficult to recruit and retain employees.
1. Compensation reported on the CRA website includes salaries, wages, commissions, allowances, bonuses, fees and charges paid to individuals working for a registered charity and the value of benefits, whether taxable or not. that are granted to them.
2. The remuneration of Prime Minister Legault and his ministers includes the remuneration as deputy and the additional remuneration of the Prime Minister and the ministers. This remuneration was increased in March 2023 to $208,200 for the Prime Minister and $177,732 for his ministers (an increase of just over 6%). The 30% increase passed last June increased the prime minister's remuneration to $270,120 and his ministers' remuneration to $230,591, but the audited organizations' T3010 does not extend beyond March 2023.
3. The number of Quebec NPOs in this category was 3,692 when the examination began in June 2022 and fluctuated over the months to reach 3,469 in November 2023. We excluded from the analysis all private and public foundations whose finances, executive compensation and contributions to the causes of which have already been reported in the past. Although the One Drop Foundation, the Starlight Foundation, the KBF Canada Foundation and the Mira Foundation use the term “foundation” in their corporate name, due to their financial structure and activities, they are not foundations within the meaning of the tax law, but rather are “registered charities” that are exempt from income tax and can issue receipts for donations received.