Deepr cuts = Bigger bonuses

[olp1fan]

Brought to you by the one and only Tony Clement

This just adds to the richer becoming richer and the poorer becoming poorer and it is policies like this that will set off an reaction by the Canadian people as surely we are now waking up to the realities of what is going on thanks to wikileaks and the occupy wall street movement... welcome to the future

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/deeper-cuts-mean-bigger-bonuses-senior-bureaucrats-told/article2197020/

Axe-wielding executives in the public service stand to earn big bonuses based on how much they cut in the run-up to the 2012 federal budget.

Treasury Board President Tony Clement says 40 per cent of “at risk” pay for senior managers will be based on how much they contribute to the Conservatives’ target of finding at least $4-billion a year in permanent savings.

This is the first year the performance-based incentive has ever been tied to government cuts, and Mr. Clement says the 2012 budget – likely to be tabled in February or March – will be the ultimate yardstick for doling out the rewards.

“In terms of measuring the goal [for receiving extra pay] in terms of our government-wide objective of deficit reduction, that crystallizes with the 2012 budget,” Mr. Clement said in an interview with The Globe and Mail.

While the budget is still at least four months away, it’s crunch time for a special cabinet committee chaired by Mr. Clement that must go through restraint plans from every federal department. Each department must submit two proposals: one for a 5-per-cent cut and another outlining what a 10-per-cent cut would look like.

One union leader said he’s concerned financial rewards may encourage managers to go too far in their hunt for cuts. “There’s a potential to be a little overzealous,” said Gary Corbett, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada.

Salaries for federal executives (not including deputy ministers) range from $101,100 to $191,900, and “at risk” pay – based on performance – can range as high as an additional 20 per cent. Bonuses of up to 6 per cent are also offered.

Mr. Clement will be describing Canada’s experience with stimulus spending and deficit reduction in a speech to Washington’s Chamber of Commerce later this week. The two-day trip will also include meetings with senior members of the White House’s Open Government Initiative.

Drawing inspiration from the Obama administration’s efforts, Ottawa is planning to make far more internal documents, statistics and spending plans freely available to the public as part of its own “open government” plan.

The Harper government has faced heavy criticism over the years for its tight grip on information – including major parliamentary battles over Afghan detainee documents and the cost of federal crime bills – but Mr. Clement insists more transparency is coming.

By early next year, he expects that all information released by federal departments in response to access-to-information requests will be easily available online. That would replace the current system, which can be highly cumbersome for the public to find out what information has been released to individual requesters. The process became even more challenging in 2008 after the government shut down a registry that tracked government-wide access-to-information requests.

The minister’s visit to Washington comes at a pivotal time in U.S. politics as Democrats and Republicans square off over the need for a second wave of stimulus spending and the question of whether tax increases should be part of a long-term plan to reduce the deficit. Mr. Clement says he plans to stay out of those debates.

He intends to highlight Canada’s efforts to follow the U.S. lead by putting more raw government data online, noting that private-sector firms like Google have successfully used open-data files in the U.S. to create new services like public-transit tips.

One aspect of Canada’s “open government” push was quietly launched in August. For the first time ever, all government departments released quarterly spending reports showing whether or not they are on budget. That information allowed The Globe to report that the Correctional Service of Canada was spending more than $450-million this year to implement a single Conservative crime bill, the Truth in Sentencing Act.

Mr. Clement said by sharing the information that government uses to make decisions, citizens can become more informed and engaged on public policy issues.

“You can get into this whole world of crowd-sourcing where rather than it just [being] cabinet committees or caucuses deciding policy, you could get the public that are engaged in a particular issue to help come up with options or even help make decisions,” he said. “That to me is the ultimate future of open government.”

[scribblet]

Soooo, you are NOT in favour of reducing the deficit? Say, If the "highly paid bureaucrats" can save we taxpayers some money, way over and above a bonus then I'm all for it.

Maybe you would prefer that Harper do as Paul Martin did to slay the deficit - all those in favour of drastically reducing health care and education transfers - say aye

[Bonam]

Sounds like good policy to me. More government information online, more transparency, and cuts to the bloated government service to save taxpayers money.

[Topaz]

I notice the Treasury Board never got hit and the Canada Revenue Agency will grow in staff 1793. IF these cuts are so important than why isn't all the ministers taking a pay cut or freeze and why not up how much the minister pay towards there own pensions.

[olp1fan]

Soooo, you are NOT in favour of reducing the deficit? Say, If the "highly paid bureaucrats" can save we taxpayers some money, way over and above a bonus then I'm all for it.

Maybe you would prefer that Harper do as Paul Martin did to slay the deficit - all those in favour of drastically reducing health care and education transfers - say aye

what we want is for THEM not to get bonuses for doing their job

what the fuck is the point of cutting money if you're just going to pay them more money for doing it?

It doesn't make the slightest bit of sense

[olp1fan]

Sounds like good policy to me. More government information online, more transparency, and cuts to the bloated government service to save taxpayers money.

I don't see how its saving taxpayers money when some of the money they're cutting is going to them?

[olp1fan]

I notice the Treasury Board never got hit and the Canada Revenue Agency will grow in staff 1793. IF these cuts are so important than why isn't all the ministers taking a pay cut or freeze and why not up how much the minister pay towards there own pensions.

And you won't see them take any cuts, in fact I'd bet that Tony Clement is involved in another slush fund which we will come to know in two years if they haven't been chased out of office by then

[capricorn]

I don't see how its saving taxpayers money

That's pretty obvious.

[Bonam]

I don't see how its saving taxpayers money when some of the money they're cutting is going to them?

Because a few million in bonuses is a lot less than $4 billion in cuts.

[guyser]

what we want is for THEM not to get bonuses for doing their job

what the fuck is the point of cutting money if you're just going to pay them more money for doing it?

It doesn't make the slightest bit of sense

They will be more than'doing their job'. They will be scrutinizing every aspect of the dept they are in.

Here, I will pay you $50,000 bonus to find a million dollars in savings in this dept. Its math , learn it.

Makes lots of sense if you know business. Happens all the time in...gasp....private sector

[olp1fan]

Because a few million in bonuses is a lot less than $4 billion in cuts.

you obviously don't have a friggin' clue do you? the world economy is still in ruins, you do not give people big fat bonuses when you are telling the rest of the country its gut check time

good frickin god man

[olp1fan]

They will be more than'doing their job'. They will be scrutinizing every aspect of the dept they are in.

Here, I will pay you $50,000 bonus to find a million dollars in savings in this dept. Its math , learn it.

Makes lots of sense if you know business. Happens all the time in...gasp....private sector

this is the public sector which means these bonuses they will be getting are OUR tax dollars, and during a world recession no less

AND during the beginning of an occupy wall street movement that is about this very exact issue

Conservatives are stupid as hell for implementing this right now and I hope they fucking reap what they sow

[bush_cheney2004]

you obviously don't have a friggin' clue do you? the world economy is still in ruins, you do not give people big fat bonuses when you are telling the rest of the country its gut check time

Yes you do...cream rises to the top...and it gets paid well to stay there.

[olp1fan]

Yes you do...cream rises to the top...and it gets paid well to stay there.

Cream rises and then it gets expired and starts to reek

then we remove the reek with a revolution

[bush_cheney2004]

Cream rises and then it gets expired and starts to reek

then we remove the reek with a revolution

Riiiight....the big revolution is coming from people too goddamn lazy to get a job...any job.

[capricorn]

the world economy is still in ruins,

One major factor of the faltering economy of some countries is their out of control spending to a point they could no longer pay their bills. Something has to be done before we get to that point. Or would you prefer we continue on the same track and we can no longer pay for basic social programs? Bonam and Guyser are right. It boils down to math.

[olp1fan]

Riiiight....the big revolution is coming from people too goddamn lazy to get a job...any job.

That is not at all what the wall street occupation movement is about

I have a feeling you will never understand

[olp1fan]

One major factor of the faltering economy of some countries is their out of control spending to a point they could no longer pay their bills. Something has to be done before we get to that point. Or would you prefer we continue on the same track and we can no longer pay for basic social programs? Bonam and Guyser are right. It boils down to math.

They are already supposed to be cutting programs, now they just get paid more money for cutting more..you know as incentive

why should they be paid more from our tax dollars to do their job when Tony Clement is telling the rest of us

to deal with it?

Fuckin' he can deal with what is an awakening of the Canadian populace

He will be the first throw into the lions den

[olp1fan]

oh shit, wait, I bet you people think its smart to pay contractors 90,000 a day to give the government advice on how to do their job

we don't even need a government it looks like, just pay contractors to do it!!

Conservatives the treasonous party of Canada

[Michael Hardner]

Open Government is something I've been following for a long time now. It should be neither a left- or right- proposition - it's about getting the information to the public so they can make informed decisions about what their government is doing.

In order for this program to be successful, expenditures as well as output and service levels need to be published.

If you're left- leaning then you should be in favour of this, as it means government savings, and resources going to programs that are more productive for all Canadians not just corporate welfare collectors.

[Keepitsimple]

I think the initial thread lacks context. These guys are ALWAYS elegible for "at risk" bonuses of up to 20%. They can make a portion - or all of the bonus based on doing things that are outside their normal job. Now...I'm first to admit that in the past, perhaps these "executives" were getting bonuses based on things that should be just part of their regular job. But at least NOW, a good chunk of that bonus will be based on actually DOING something for it - finding efficiencies that allow them to cut costs by 10%. This is not a new bonus. This is not a bigger bonus.

[Michael Hardner]

olp1fan - please read the forum rules again - profanity isn't tolerated here.

[olp1fan]

olp1fan - please read the forum rules again - profanity isn't tolerated here.

Okay, I will curtail the cursing, my bad

[fellowtraveller]

I am delighted to see that there are firm guidelines on how executives earn extra pay.

[blueblood]

Cream rises and then it gets expired and starts to reek

then we remove the reek with a revolution

I think the usa has seen enough socialist revolutions and how they worked out to put the kibosh on any revolution. This isn't egypt where close to 10 percent of the population was at tahrir square on a regular basis. When there are 30 million people protesting and rioting there may be a revolution. 20000 is what goes to a ny rangers or a knicks game.