Tuesday 4 January 2022

Dozens of big companies headed by top-paid CEOs collected COVID-19 government benefits: report

 

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Replying to @DavidRaymondAm1 @DavidRayAmos and 49 others

Methinks Sophia Harris should send all the documents I sent her in 2002 to the economist David MacDonald and his cohorts sometime soon N'esy Pas???

Check out page 14


https://www.scribd.com/doc/2718120/Integrity-Yea-Right 

 

 https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2022/01/dozens-of-big-companies-headed-by-top.html

 

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ceo-pay-covid-19-1.6303304 

 

Dozens of big companies headed by top-paid CEOs collected COVID-19 government benefits: report

Some companies say the money helped keep workers employed

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) report examined the 100 highest-paid CEOs at publicly traded Canadian-based companies for 2020. It found that their average annual compensation totalled $10.9 million — $95,000 more than their average pay in prepandemic 2019.

"While [2020] was really a pretty bad year for most Canadians, particularly lower paid working Canadians, many of whom lost their jobs … it wasn't at all a bad year for CEOs," said David Macdonald, report author and senior economist with the CCPA, a think-tank that studies economic inequity.

MacDonald combined each CEO's base salary plus compensation, such as cash bonuses and stock options, to tally up their income totals. 

According to his report, more than one third of the companies headed by those CEOs received the COVID-19 Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) either directly or indirectly through their subsidiaries or franchisees. 

David MacDonald, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, says the country's 100 top-paid CEOs make 191 times more than the average worker salary. (CBC)

MacDonald suggests that added subsidy helped some CEOs achieve revenue targets for lucrative bonuses, even though their companies may have suffered financially due to the pandemic. 

"Many of these companies probably didn't need the [CEWS], but if there's federal money available, they were going to apply and they were going to take it," he said. "That was not what this program was meant for."

The federal government introduced CEWS in March 2020 to help companies minimize job losses as COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns were imposed. To qualify, companies simply had to show a drop in revenue during the pandemic.

According to the federal CEWS website, as of Dec. 19, Ottawa has paid out $99.13 billion under the program.

Companies respond

CBC News reached out for comment to several companies which, according to the CCPA report, received the CEWS and were headed by one of those 100 CEOs. 

According to the report, David Klein, CEO of the cannabis company Canopy Growth, scored the top spot, earning just over $45 million in total compensation.

MJBizDaily, a cannabis industry news publication, estimates Canopy Growth may have received $50 million total in CEWS funding.

In an email to CBC News, Canopy Growth — which is based in Smiths Falls, Ont. — confirmed it did receive the CEWS, but did not specify the amount. 

WATCH | Why some profitable companies got pandemic aid: 

Some profitable corporations got pandemic support | The Big Spend

1 year ago
Duration 2:00
Canada's federal wage subsidy has helped businesses keep workers on the payroll, but it came at a big cost to taxpayers: over $50 billion and counting. CBC’s The Big Spend investigation raises questions about why profitable companies got the money and how much they really needed it. 2:00

Canopy Growth said it met the requirements for the subsidy which "allowed the company to offset the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including strategically hiring approximately 1,000 team members."

Canopy Growth added that much of Klein's compensation for 2020 consisted of stock options which are tied to company performance, and that his pay was finalized in 2019, before the pandemic hit and the company applied for CEWS.

According to the CCPA report, the second-highest paid CEO in 2020 was Jose Cil with Restaurant Brands International (RBI), which owns Tim Hortons. The report states Cil's total compensation was close to $27 million. 

RBI spokesperson Mary Lowe said the company did not apply for or accept the CEWS, but that a number of the 1,500 Tim Hortons franchise owners in Canada did receive the subsidy. 

"They were 100% eligible for the wage subsidy as the government intended and many of them relied on it to keep restaurants open and keep tens of thousands of Canadians employed through the pandemic," Lowe wrote in an email.

Restaurant Brands International said it did not apply for, or accept the CEWS, but that some Tim Hortons franchise owners did receive the subsidy. (John Rieti/CBC)

Lowe did not say how much the franchisees received from CEWS in 2020. According to government data, 483 Tim Hortons franchises in Canada collected the subsidy. 

When it comes to CEO pay, Lowe said that although RBI is headquartered in Toronto, it's a global company which competes in an international market. She added that a large portion of Cil's compensation won't pay out for upwards of five years and is contingent on future performance.

Based on his findings, MacDonald said that Canada's top-paid 100 CEOs now make 191 times more than the average worker salary in the country.

To help shrink the pay gap, Macdonald recommends the federal government tax top earners at a higher rate and get rid of tax loopholes that allow for some compensation to be taxed at a lower rate compared to regular income. 

He also said higher taxes for well-paid CEOs would help refill federal government coffers after Ottawa paid out billions of dollars in COVID-19 benefits such as the CEWS. 

"As we start to pay for the pandemic and pay for new programs, the people who've done the best should be asked to pay more," said MacDonald. 

However, Ari Pandes, a finance professor at the University of Calgary, argues that there are valid reasons why CEOs make far more than the rest of us — even if the company they run recently collected the CEWS. 

"The market for CEOs and talent is ultra-competitive," he said. "So if the company doesn't pay them [well], then they can go to another company."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sophia Harris

Business reporter

Sophia Harris covers business and consumer news. Contact: sophia.harris@cbc.ca

 

 

3456 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
 
 
 
 
David Amos
Surprise Surprise Surprise 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Adam Park
Maybe the CBC financial reporters should verify their facts before running an article...they cannot confirm Mr Klein was actually compensated the amount they state, RBI did not even receive CEWS and "maybe" some TH franchisors which is not RBI by the way but independent small business entrepreneurs received. I get they want to prominently highlight the social justice NGO that Mr MacDonald represents, but get your facts straight...
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Adam Park: "I get they want to prominently highlight the social justice NGO that Mr MacDonald represents, but get your facts straight"

I concur
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
John Waters
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Wondered how much filtered back into the pockets of the Liberal cabinet
 
 
Richard Peck
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Reply to @John Waters: Just where is Katie and hubby these days ?
 
 
Jay Schuster
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Reply to @Richard Peck: hubby has no Katie for the last two years where have you been.
 
 
Viktor Klempas
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Reply to @John Waters: good point, lets audit the Trudeau Foundation and find out who has been paying how much for direct access.
 
 
David Amos
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Reply to @Richard Peck: Hiding under a rock and no doubt shedding
 
 
David Amos
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Reply to @Viktor Klempas: They should begin the audit when Stephen Toope offended me in 2005
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Kurt Fellows
I remember when the opposition parties asked for accountability for covid benefits being rolled out and the Liberals responded that they were playing politics at the time.
 
 
Michael Winiarz
Reply to @Kurt Fellows: Easy when you are not responsible and get to play both sides. Businesses need help yesterday but take a couple of months to make sure that accountability is primary so said they...
 
 
ROB UNRAU
Reply to @Michael Winiarz: and you never hold Justin responsible but always deflect and blame to others for Justin's decision.
 
 
Andrew Stat
Reply to @ROB UNRAU: Justin had, and still has, a minority government. Nice try though.
 
 
Bobby Wynott
Reply to @Kurt Fellows: Our society judges those who choose to act underhandedly vs those who enable it, it's baked in our laws.

So while the government program could have been tighter everyone would have complained anyway - took too long, too many hoops... it was a lose-lose situation fo the government.

The issue is that just because you can, should you? I lost my job, decided to stay home with my kids and did not take CERB despite qualifying. We made cuts to spending and got by. While I understand the CEOs had a mandate to deliver, it is unfortunate their owners wouldn't grant them grace to reduce profit instead of sucking up public funds like pigs at a trough.
 
 
Ryan Tasker
Reply to @Bobby Wynott: Just think about it... that CEO making the average $10 million could have easily taken a 1/3rd hit and they wouldn't have had to rely on CEWS. Yet they chose to take MORE compensation at the expense of the taxpayer.

You're 100% correct in that the underhanded are looked at much worse.
 
 
Greg Lang
Reply to @Kurt Fellows: Just before xmas PP asked the finance committee where the money was coming from.....crickets. No one MP could answer the question.
 
 
Michal Scur
Reply to @Kurt Fellows: oh please be real. we know the accountability was aimed at CERB recipients (ie. workers). not businesses receiving CEWS. for example, the ontario PCs gave out 200 million in support to businesses that didnt qualify. i doubt they will claw that money back. they only claw back money that workers got.
 
 
Charles Waggon
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Reply to @Kurt Fellows: Accountability is not in Justin's DNA, and surrounded by sycophants and incompetents, the party has done all in its power to prevent accountability.
Dishonest, divisive govt
 
 
David Amos
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Reply to @Charles Waggon: Methinks Sophia Harris should send all the documents I sent her in 2002 to the economist David MacDonald and his cohorts sometime soon N'esy Pas???
 
 
Michael Winiarz
Reply to @Charles Waggon: Yet it is those who immorally begged, asked for and took the money are good people in your eyes?  
 
 
Martin Howser
Reply to @Kurt Fellows: well yeah, but if they’d done what the Cons wanted them to do, they’d still be running assessments on each applicant 
 
 
Rembrandt Garland
Reply to @Kurt Fellows:

29 minutes ago

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Federal Overspending = This happened under Justin's dad as well after his overspending of the 70s, early 80s. I was working at the Federal dockyards in Esquimalt. We were SO overstaffed that when I came to work, my boss would give me a book and say, "Stay out of sight!" I was a young punk at that time and thought it was awesome. Always voted Liberal. I was bought! Then the national financial collapse came. Mortgage
rates sky-rocketed to 18%. Many people lost everything.
Don't vote Liberal anymore.
 
 
Stanley Beemish
Reply to @Greg Lang: it didn’t warrant one. Just Pp making his usual squeaky noises. Out of general revenue, paid into by every tax paying citizen and corporation. Our elected officials control this, including the illustrious Mr. Poutine😎
 
 
Rembrandt Garland 
Reply to @Stanley Beemish: Better than being a puto like you, Stan! 👹
 
 
Evan Hoffer
Reply to @Andrew Stat: Actually in the first round of covid "relief" they had a majority government, so it wouldn't have mattered what opposition wanted. But either way it doesn't matter if its a majority or minority, the liberals and JT are still the leader of this country and bare responsibility even if they are currently propped up by the shady NDP.
 
 
Greg Lang
Reply to @Stanley Beemish: Not one MP could answer the question. So to me, one of millions paying the employees wage, I want an answer. They know where the spend was going, but not how it was going to be funded. You say GEN rev? From where?
 
 
Mike Dowden
Reply to @Kurt Fellows: The opposition wanted to give businesses more... and to do it faster. 'PP and the loudmouths' were going to whing no matter what was done or how fast it was done cause that is all they know how to do... but they would have been spittle-spewing raving lunatics if businesses had started to fail while the gov took the time to audit thousands upon thousands of applications. To pretend otherwise is to remove oneself from being taken seriously.
 
 
Charles Waggon 
Reply to @Stanley Beemish: Polievre asks entirely legitimate questions, All the Liberals have to do is supply the answers, but they never do, Instead fuss and furm, toss back accusations, and in some cases hand over papers entirely blacked out. In other cases, Trudeau ordered staff and bureaucrats to ignore Parliamentary summons to testify, and in others refuses to hand over court ordered documents, and Trdueau prorogues Parliament to stymie investigations, and later calls a "critical" "urgent" election, and then its so urgent that he waits several weeks before recalling Parliament just a couiple of weeks before a long Christmas break.
No, Mr Beamish, you have been blinded by the justin kul aid.. It is a dangerous brew. For you own mental well being, and for the good of Canada, cease. 

 
 
Lorne Realor
Reply to @Bobby Wynott: In no way am I being sarcastic. Kudos for not collecting CERB. I also lost my job within our 200k income household and collected CERB for month. Our household also collected various student subsides and provincial subsidies of more than 10k. The extra windfall will pay the BIG future tax bills coming. In addition, our house value increased by $500k, RRSPs went up 500k.
The pandemic was the best financial windfall that could have ever happened. Tens of thousands of small town people earning $5,001 also quit working and collected CERB. Now all I need to do is setup a legal tax avoidance trust fund like the Elites such as our Prime Minister....😮😷 
 
 
Lorne Realor
Reply to @Michael Winiarz: I also lost my job within our 200k income household and collected CERB for a month. Our household also collected various student subsides and provincial subsidies of more than 10k. The extra windfall will pay the BIG future tax bills coming. In addition, our house value increased by $500k, RRSPs went up 500k.
The pandemic was the best financial windfall that could have ever happened. Tens of thousands of small town people earning $5,001 also quit working and collected CERB. Now all I need to do is setup a legal tax avoidance trust fund like the Elites such as our Prime Minister....😮😷
 
 
Dan Deso
Reply to @Kurt Fellows: was that before of after the CPC pushed to have CEWS passed without a vote?  
 

Andrew Stat 
Reply to @Evan Hoffer: No, they didn't have a majority government in the 1st round of covid. lol, seriously?!?!?!?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rob D'Hood
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I remember a certain Pierre Polivere letting us know this would happen.
 
 
Roger Grenich
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Reply to @Rob D'Hood: yea, pretty sure he said it the very second the liberals dreamt up they’re vote buying scheme.
 
 
Michal Scur
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Reply to @Rob D'Hood: if you genuinely honestly think that the PCs would not give out millions to corporations if given the chance then you are beyond naive. both parties dance to the same corporate tune. see ontario PCs giving unqualified businesses 200 million in relief.
 
 
Korey Derp
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Reply to @Michal Scur: Thats a far cry from 99 Billion.
 
 
David Amos 
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Reply to @Rob D'Hood: Of course he works within the realm of the PCO just like his buddy Trudeau does
 
 
Stanley Beemish
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Reply to @Rob D'Hood: since when did Mr. Poutine matter. I weep for the voters of his riding.
 
 
Michal Scur
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Reply to @Korey Derp: wait so 200 million of taxpayer money going to unqualified businesses is ok now? i remember when people here screamed and cried about a handful of unqualified people getting 10 grand through CERB. or maybe its the recipients that are the problem?
 
 
John Carey
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Reply to @Michal Scur: No. It is the fault of the Trudeau Liberal government that gave away the money without appropriate checks. When an organization is stupid enough to blindly give away money, the fault is not with those who received the money for asking. Not like the Trudeau Liberals care - not their money. Sunny ways!
 
 
Mike Dowden 
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Reply to @John Carey: Ahh, yes, cause reformers wouldnt be here praising little PP for ranting about delays if the gov actually had taken the time to audit thousands upon thousands of applications? There are plenty of legitimate things to complain about from this gov. Stretching this far to whing just takes away any credibility there might have been.
 
 
Mike Delaney
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Reply to @Roger Grenich: they're huh 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ROB UNRAU
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Sunny ways for Justin but cloudy sky's for taxpayers.
 
 
Edward Andrews
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Reply to @ROB UNRAU: Get in your cage and be quiet, lord sparkle socks knows best.
 
 
Porfirio Rubirosa
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Reply to @ROB UNRAU: it's all about the Foundation
 
 
David Amos 
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Reply to @ROB UNRAU: True
 
 
David Amos 
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Reply to @Edward Andrews: Surely you jest Our little lord sparkle socks ain't got a clue but his Papa Pierre knew when it was best to take a long walk in the snow and decide to quit
 
 
David Amos 
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Reply to @Porfirio Rubirosa: Yup
 
 
Edward Andrews
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Reply to @David Amos: Yeah I jest. It took 30 years to undo the damage of big spud and little spud is trying to out do his dad but is half as intelligent though does have twice the ego
 
 
John Carey 
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Reply to @Edward Andrews: Mr Trudeaus number one priority is number one.
 
 
Mike Dowden  
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Reply to @ROB UNRAU: I know! That JT sure is powerful! Spending all that money by his ownself while in a minority gov! Quite the trick, eh? Almost god-like!!! 
 
 
 
 
  

 

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