Spending on bonuses and performance pay for the public service executives who implement the government’s orders has jumped by more than 65 per cent since Stephen Harper came to power.

Overall spending on bonuses and performance pay for public service executives has risen from $43.8 million in 2006/07 to $72.4 million in 2013/14, the last year for which figures are available.

At the same time, the number of public service executives has risen 11.8 per cent – from 4,984 in 2006/07 to 5,576 in 2013/14. That is down from a high of 6,044 in 2010/11.

The quiet disclosure of the annual numbers, which were published on the Treasury Board website, comes as the Harper government is in the midst of acrimonious contract talks with many of the public service unions who are upset by a government proposal to overhaul the existing system of sick leave. The unions are seeking a court order to prevent the government from unilaterally imposing the change during the election.

The average executive performance pay envelope has also risen under the Conservative government. Among those who received performance or “at-risk” pay, the average climbed from $9,416 in 2006/07 to $13,760 in 2013/14 — a 46 per cent increase.

The average for those who received performance pay was up four per cent between 2012/13 and 2013/14, offsetting a drop of 1.7 per cent the year before.

The basic salary range for public service executives for 2015 is between $106,900 and $202,500. Performance/at-risk pay and bonuses are on top of that. They are pegged to performance in achieving the government’s and the department’s objectives.

In 2013/14, the government’s main objective once again centred on continuing its cost-cutting plan, as outlined in the government’s performance management budget instructions for 2013/14:

“To renew and transform business processes through the effective implementation of cost-reduction and efficiency improvement initiatives as identified in Deficit Reduction Action Plan (DRAP) and other government-wide or departmental initiatives, in keeping with the Government’s commitment to return to balanced budgets in 2015.”

The Harper government set the same objective for the 2014/15 fiscal year.

Treasury Board President Tony Clement’s department set a cost-cutting example, with a 10.5 per cent drop in its own spending on performance pay. The figures show 178 of the Treasury Board Secretariat’s 185 executives got average at risk pay of $13,355 and the 19 executives who got a bonus pocketed an average $7,277.

While all public service executives were expected to meet the same objective, the amount of performance pay and bonuses doled out in 2013/14 varied widely between departments and agencies. While some happy executives walked away with double-digit increases in their pockets, other departments posted double-digit decreases in the amount of at-risk pay and bonuses they handed out.

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Among the big winners were those at the Office of Infrastructure of Canada, where total spending on performance pay was up 38 per cent. The average at-risk pay 26 of the office’s 30 executives received was $14,034 and the average bonus three of them got on top of that was $8,695 – the highest in the government.

The second-largest increase in spending on performance pay and bonuses, 34.6 per cent, was at the Canada School of Public Service, which runs courses for federal public servants. Forty-seven of the school’s 48 executives received average at risk pay of $10,309 — the second-lowest level in the public service — while four executives received an additional bonus of $3,882.

The third-largest increase in spending was at the Justice Department, where spending rose 27.1 per cent. According to government figures, 56 of the department’s 59 executives received average at-risk pay of $13,724 with two getting an additional average bonus of $3,828.

Executives in the Privy Council Office, which serves as the prime minister’s department and coordinates actions between departments, weren’t far behind, with 12 people getting an average bonus of $7,378. While the number of executives working in the Privy Council Office had dropped 8.8 per cent from the previous year, the 98 who remained and received at-risk pay got an average of $16,560.

The agency with the fattest at-risk pay envelopes was the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board, where the average for the seven executives who got at-risk pay was $18,311 and the average bonus for the four executives who got a bonus as well was $3,409. Among the events the agency was called upon to deal with during the 2013/14 fiscal year was the Lac Mégantic train disaster in Quebec.

Executives at the Department of Western Economic Diversification, headed by Minister of State Michelle Rempel, received the second-highest level of at-risk pay in the federal government. All but two of the agencies’ 25 executives got an average of $16,710 while one got a bonus of $5,364 on top of that.

At the other end of the scale, one of the biggest drops in performance pay spending was at Rideau Hall in the Office of the Governor General’s Secretary, where spending dropped by 28.4 per cent. One quarter of the office’s executives got no performance pay at all while nine others received an average of $11,464 in at-risk pay. Two of the nine also got a modest bonus of $1,204 — the smallest average bonuses of any department or agency that awarded them.

The Immigration and Refugee Board was one of the departments that gave out no bonuses at all in 2013/14. Overall spending on performance pay dropped 26.5 per cent, although the number of executives only dropped 7 per cent. While all 35 executives got at-risk pay, the average was $10,863.

The third-largest drop in performance pay spending was at the Public Service Commission. While the number of executives actually rose 2.2 per cent, the overall spending on bonuses and at-risk pay was down 24.8 per cent. All but one of its 45 executives received an average at risk pay of $14,336 and two received an average bonus of $5,666.

The lowest level of performance pay was at the Canadian International Trade Tribunal, where the average at-risk pay for its nine executives was only $8,997. One person got a bonus of $4,677.

Figures for performance pay increases for 2014/15 are not yet available.

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