Adedokun Waliyu 
Federal employees at or above the executive level were paid out over $130 million dollars in performance pay and bonuses between April 2022 and July 2023, according to a document obtained through the Access to Information law, with two public servants receiving extra payments of $83,000. Meanwhile, the exact figures for other bonuses were blacked out.
The growing cost of these bonuses over the years is being questioned by a Canadian non-profit, however, given that the government has failed to meet many of its performance targets.
Between April 2022 and July 2023, 7,895 full-time or temporary executive employees working in departments and organizations in the core public administration raked in a total of $132,610,541 in performance pay and bonuses.
The smallest bonus to any individual was $7. The largest bonuses—and the number of employees they were awarded to—were not disclosed, with 11 rows of information blacked out in the document. The names of the public servants receiving bonuses were also excluded.
“There is the possibility that some of the larger payments could uniquely identify an employee,” said Jean-Paul Fauvelle, a spokesperson for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.
Employees at or above the executive level include those appointed by the Governor in Council, such as deputy ministers.
A total of 398 employees each collected $17,158 in bonuses. Other large groups included 284 executives who received $15,852 each; 219 others who were given $14,298; and 123 more received $13,210.
In the previous fiscal year of 2021-22, a total of 7,241 executives (or 97.7 per cent) across the core public administration earned performance pay.The Office of Primary Interest (OPI) said in an emailed statement that performance is only awarded for “exceptional performance,” adding that some of the amounts may only reflect partial payments.
On top of that, 752 (or 10.1 per cent) of executives received a bonus. The cost for both at-risk pay and bonuses was $113,270,849.
That’s an increase from $107,760,734 in 2020-21 and $96,027,179 in 2019-20.
The most recent figures included some employees receiving two performance bonuses for work done during two fiscal years as, according to the document, performance pay for work done one fiscal year is usually disbursed the following year.
As of the end of March 2022, the total number of executive employees working in the federal public service was 7,200.
The extra pay was distributed during a period that involved the largest federal public service strike in Canada’s history.
The 2022-23 fiscal year was marked by inflationary pressures and a decrease in overall government expenses, though operating expenses of the government’s 134 departments, agencies, consolidated Crown corporations and other entities were slightly up from the year before, according to the recently tabled Public Accounts.
