(Quebec) François Legault wants to abolish the bonuses for the leaders of state corporations “in certain cases”, but justifies the remuneration of more than 6.8 million granted in 2021 to the big boss of the Caisse de dépôt et placement (CDPQ).
Posted at 1:47 p.m.
Québec solidaire (QS) and the Parti québécois (PQ) launched the first salvos in the morning on Wednesday morning, the day after revelations about the bonuses paid to the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) and Loto-Québec for the year 2021 .
The SAQ granted 9 million bonuses to all its personnel. Loto-Québec will pay between 4 and 5 million to its staff, but not to its senior executives, while at the Société québécoise du cannabis, it will be zero bonus.
“I ask the Prime Minister to put an end to bonus parties in the management of our Crown corporations,” said QS spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. It’s indecent and it has to stop. »
“Are these famous variable remunerations in monopoly markets still the right thing to do for the public service? asked PQ MP Martin Ouellet.
During the question period, François Legault suggested that he would prefer that this incentive remuneration be eliminated, but once each of the contracts with senior executives comes to an end.
“We cannot, overnight, put (a contract) in the trash,” pleaded the Prime Minister.
“We are a respectable company that must respect the contracts that are signed. But, in some cases, we should gradually, when the contracts expire, stop paying these bonuses. »
However, Mr. Legault defended the compensation granted to Charles Emond by the Board of Directors of the Caisse.
The overall compensation of the boss of the CDPQ reached 4.5 million in 2021, or 30.5% compared to the same period last year. And in addition, he obtained a “compensation bonus” of 1.8 million, for having given up future income from his former employer, Scotiabank.
“There is a significant amount that was paid to Scotiabank, not to the individual, but to Scotiabank to allow for a quality manager at the Caisse de dépôt, who would have had good returns, who brought in hundreds of millions, if not billions more,” argued the CAQ chief.
He believes that the compensation of the president of the Caisse is “comparable” to what had been paid to his predecessors.