Someone at B.C. Ferries probably said: 鈥淢aybe we shouldn鈥檛 give bonuses to our senior executives at this time. It might just make people mad.鈥� But they did 鈥� and it did.
B.C. Ferries is always a lightning rod for public outrage, and frustration with public-sector bonuses is already rampant, so the corporation everyone loves to hate walked into a guaranteed storm of abuse.
Even Transportation Minister Todd Stone joined the piling-on.
鈥淎t a time when the corporation is trying to reduce its expenses, this sends the wrong message,鈥� he said in a statement. Most British Columbians would agree.
Ferries brought in a $15-million surplus last year, the first time in three years it has met its financial targets, leading the board of directors to approve bonuses for some of the top executives.
Executive vice-president Glen Schwartz received an increase of $64,298 in his 鈥渁nnual incentive,鈥� bringing it to $127,008. Robert Clarke, executive vice-president and chief financial officer, got an added $73,359, making his bonus jump to $133,711. Both men received almost $500,000 in total compensation.
CEO Mike Corrigan got $563,000 for the year, a figure that was capped by the provincial government after the departure of his predecessor, David Hahn. The pay of the other executives isn鈥檛 capped.
Executive pay has long been a contentious topic at B.C. Ferries. Hahn left before the end of his contract because of the furor over his million-dollar paycheque. By comparison, the corporation is getting a bargain with Corrigan, who not only took less money, but combined two jobs.
The anger over the bonuses is stoked by the contention that the surplus isn鈥檛 real. The New Democrats point out that the province increased its subsidy by $21.5 million. In other words, taxpayer dollars allowed the corporation to post a suspect 鈥渟urplus.鈥�
Taxpayers are steaming because, as in the case of B.C. Hydro and government staff, bonuses don鈥檛 fit with most people鈥檚 vision of what a government department or a Crown corporation should be.
In the private sector, the owners are the shareholders, and management鈥檚 task is to bring the shareholders a good return on investment. If they produce a better-than-expected return, it鈥檚 reasonable to reward them with bonuses.
The goal of the organization is clear: Make money.
But when it comes to public agencies, the owners are the taxpayers, and their goals are much more complex. It鈥檚 not simply about posting a profit; it鈥檚 about providing public benefits. And they often disagree about what those benefits are.
For most British Columbians, a surplus at B.C. Ferries doesn鈥檛 translate into a benefit they care about. If the surplus were turned into lower ferry fares, that would be a goal worth pursuing. If the surplus paid for increased service on some routes, that would also get a thumbs-up.
However, when British Columbians see the corporation post a surplus at the same time ticket prices continue to rise and service cuts are on the agenda, they don鈥檛 see how that merits bonuses for anyone.
For most of us, salary is what we get paid for doing our jobs. If we do the job well, we get to keep it. If we do badly, we expect to lose it. Transporting private-sector bonus systems into the public sector just doesn鈥檛 compute for us.
Stone says he will talk to the board of directors, and wants Ferries to follow guidelines set for Crown corporations.
Ferries and other provincially owned agencies need to attract good leaders, but the government has to get away from bonus systems that offend the real shareholders: the people of B.C.
