If there鈥檚 one thing British Columbians expect of their government, it鈥檚 fair play. We hope for competence and good management. We admire compassion. But we will not abide favouritism or special treatment in any shape or form.
That鈥檚 one reason sweetheart deals with public-sector managers have become such a lightning rod. On one hand, our provincial government is driving the hardest of bargains with low-paid workers. Ministers cite weak revenue growth and the need to protect service levels. Fair enough.
But on the other hand, scarcely a month passes without yet another story of executive salaries and perks going through the roof. There were those six-figure bonuses paid to B.C Ferries managers, at the same time routes were being cut.
There was the head of Powerex, a B.C. Hydro subsidiary, collecting more than $1 million in pay and benefits last year. B.C. Hydro is proposing a 26 per cent rate increase.
There were the scandalous goings-on at the Portland Hotel Society, which runs subsidized housing in 91原创鈥檚 Downtown Eastside. Managers and board members ran up tens of thousands on limousines, spa services and trips to exotic locations.
And now we have allegations that managers at the Provincial Health Services Agency and the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria are being paid more than guidelines permit.
A word of caution is required. There is no suggestion that any of these executives acted improperly. They negotiated the best deals they could.
And the museum directors, who say the government approved the deal, landed a spectacular catch. The new CEO has an international reputation.
But what sticks in the craw is the inescapable sense that there is one rule for underlings and a different one for their bosses. That sense is only heightened when rules are bent in favour of management.
After B.C. Ferries was ordered to stop paying exorbitant 鈥渂onuses,鈥� the board simply changed the name. Bonuses are now called 鈥渉old-backs.鈥� No one took a cut.
In other cases, guidelines are circumvented with pension top-ups, generous expense accounts and golden parachutes. It appears every time a cease-and-desist order is issued, ingenious ways are found to get around it.
Part of the problem is that large chunks of the public service in B.C. have been converted into quasi-corporations. The health agency and the museum are two examples.
Then we have Community Living B.C., the B.C. Innovation Council, Partnerships B.C., Destination B.C., Forestry Investment Innovation Ltd., the 91原创 Carbon Trust and a whole slew of shadowy agencies that fly under the radar.
None of these entities are business ventures, in the generally understood sense of that term. Yet they all have CEOs making, on average, $200,000 or better.
Names carry meaning. Call something a government ministry and frugality is expected. Call it a corporation and a different mentality takes hold.
That鈥檚 one reason the CEOs of our regional health authorities (all of which employ a corporate structure) earn $400,000 on average, while the deputy minister of health who oversees them gets $250,000. Government ministers have to stand in the legislature and defend their department鈥檚 pay grid. Corporate boards do not.
But the real issue is that lavish executive salaries undermine faith in the public sector. These people work for us, not some phantom corporation. We need to believe there is a bond of trust in play.
The government鈥檚 budget figures show there are some very lean years ahead. We need senior managers employing their skills to get us through this intact. That will only happen if they stand in the same boat as the rest of us.
