Check It Out: Taxpayers annually fund $200 million in government bonuses
By Joan Janzen
The definition of entitlement is an official right to something, or the belief that one deserves special privileges. Franco Terrazzano, the director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), offered numerous examples of entitlement on a recent podcast.
"One of the biggest issues is this entitlement culture that we see across government. Canada Post is particularly egregious," he stated. He was referring to an access-to-information request that revealed Canada Post handed out $30.8 million in bonuses to managers and executives in 2025.
"In the same year they lost $1.6 million," he added. And the very next year the government announced they would be giving another $1 billion to Canada Post. "This wasn't one bad year; they have lost money for eight consecutive years. Their total losses are about $5 billion over those eight years."
Canada Post reasoned the bonuses were an effort to retain talent, and it was performance pay rather than a bonus. Franco had a quick response to their comments.
"Why do you want to retain these executives that are nose-diving the crown corporation? They probably should be given pink slips before they get a bonus," he observed.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers wrote a letter responding to the bonuses. While managers received bonuses, they claimed their losses required major cuts to jobs and services.
"The CTF is against the bonuses. The union workers are against the bonuses. Everyone except for the managers and executives are against the bonuses," Franco said. "And here's what has to happen next: either they apologize and end the bonuses or we need the Prime Minister to step in and shut down these taxpayer-funded bonuses for failure."
The bonus figures were revealed after repeated requests at a Parliamentary committee hearing calling for transparency.
"Trying to get these bonus records is like pulling teeth," Franco said. The CTF filed an access-to-information request in February and finally received a response in July. "It wasn't until members of Parliament forced Canada Post to disclose this information that the CTF received it." That information should be made available to Canadians.
Unfortunately, Canada Post isn't alone when it comes to handing out bonuses. Franco reported every year about 90 percent of government executives take a bonus. Meanwhile, every year their departments can barely meet half of their own performance targets. In the last year for which records were available, those bonuses cost taxpayers $200 million.
Last year Via Rail handed out $10 million in bonuses for their executives. The average bonus was $115,000, even though Via Rail's operating losses were in the hundreds of millions each year.
Another example is Alto, the crown corporation overseeing the high-speed rail project. "They haven't laid a single meter of track; they don't even know the exact route," Franco explained. "Construction isn't going to take place for years."
Nevertheless, total bonuses for last year equaled $3 million, with the average executive bonus amounting to $65,000. "They're taking bonuses before they even start their work," he added.
The CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) also handed out $31.7 million in taxpayer-funded bonuses last year. The CTF caught the CMHC handing out bonuses in 2023 and reported it in the news media. "But every year the total amount of bonuses has gone up, even after they said they would review it," Franco said. "Why are they taking bonuses when Canadians can't even afford a home?" After all, CMHC's goal is housing affordability for all.
"It's a culture of entitlement in government in Ottawa," Franco said. He said the Prime Minister keeps promising to spend less. However, he and his entourage spent nearly a million bucks on airplane food during his first year as Prime Minister.
He recalled the scandal reported in 2022 when the former Governor General billed taxpayers $100,000 for airplane food during a week-long trip to the Middle East. After this scandal the government promised to cut costs. But fast forward to last November, when the Prime Minister spent $60 grand more than the Governor General during a week-long trip.
"This is my last word," Franco said on the CTF podcast. "The government's been spending like crazy. The debt is through the roof, more than a trillion dollars in debt. Every single dollar of federal sales tax is going to pay interest on the debt. The government has to cut spending. Even the Prime Minister has promised to spend less. It's been promised so many times, but if you're not even willing to spend less on airplane food, then what are you going to spend less on?"