CBC News has confirmed the entire board of Nalcor is resigning.

The shocking announcement came Wednesday evening, on the heels of Nalcor CEO and President Ed Martin's announcement earlier in the day that he was stepping down.

The board of the Crown corporation made its decision at a meeting Wednesday.

Both Martin and Nalcor have been the subject of scorn and scrutiny in the last week, after coming under fire from the Liberal government in its 2016 budget.

That critique is cited as the prime reason for the mass resignation.

According to the Nalcor website, beside Martin, its board of directors consists of Ken Marshall, Leo Abbass, Gerald Shortall and Tom Clift.

Ed Martin left Nalcor earlier on Wednesday, saying he had been fully committed to the corporation until just days earlier. (CBC)

Harsh words

In delivering the budget, Finance Minister Cathy Bennett said since Nalcor's creation in 2007, "taxpayers have invested over $2.25 billion yet have received no dividends. For all corporations and their shareholders, this would be unacceptable."

Bennett also said Nalcor's salaries were outsized — Martin alone earned more than $600,000 in the last year.

The budget did lay out $1.3 billion in spending for Nalcor's much-delayed Muskrat Falls project.

Earlier on Wednesday, prior to the mass resignation, Premier Dwight Ball said finding a replacement for Martin was a "number one" priority.

It's unclear what the timeline will be on replacing the four other members of the board.