Bombardier testing Grits’ promises to middle class, Tories say
PM taking soft stance, opposition says
Justin Trudeau refused Monday to denounce Bombardier for enriching its executives even as the company rakes in nearly $1 billion in taxpayer money, drawing opposition charges that the Liberals are on wobbly legs when it comes to standing up for the middle class.
The ensuing public outcry has prompted the Montrealbased aerospace firm to put off for a year giving six executive officers more than half of the compensation it had planned — and has also prompted the prime minister to change his tone.
Last week, Trudeau said the government respects “the free market and the choices that companies will make.” On Monday, he said the government is “obviously not pleased” with Bombardier’s decision, “but we are happy to see it make decisions that are fixing that for Quebecers’ and Canadians’ confidence.”
Bombardier is eliminating 14,500 jobs around the world by the end of next year, part of a restructuring plan aimed at helping the company turn itself around. The plan includes federal and provincial money: a $372.5-million federal loan for Bombardier’s C Series and Global 7000 aircraft programs, and $1 billion from Quebec.
Last week, the company issued a proxy circular showing that six executives were in line for a nearly 50 per cent increase in compensation, most of which was to be granted in 2019.
The fact the company can afford to enrich its senior leaders while laying off employees suggests the taxpayer money they were given by the government is doing nothing to help Canadians, said interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose.
“This is not helping the middle class. This is lining the pockets of the one per cent of the one per cent with tax dollars,” Ambrose said during question period.
Anger at the planned pay raises culminated in a weekend protest at the company’s Montreal headquarters and a late night climb-down by Alain Bellemare, the chief executive officer, who declared he was asking Bombardier’s board of directors to delay the payments. The company underestimated public anger and is now paying attention, Bellemare said.
The Liberals, however, remain tone-deaf, opposition MPs charged.
“We have seen anger expressed by voters in both the United States and in Canada about how out of touch elites are,” Conservative leadership candidate Michael Chong wrote in an email to supporters. “The Bombardier example is one reason why this anger is out there. And citizens and taxpayers have every right to be upset.”
MONTREAL Bombardier Inc. will delay paying more than half of last year’s compensation for top executives, responding to protests after increasing payouts despite receiving government aid and planning mass job cuts.
“I understand the reaction of Quebeckers,” chief executive Alain Bellemare Bellemare said on Ici Radio-Canada radio Monday morning. “I heard, I’m listening, and it’s important for us because we have close links with Quebecers and we want to preserve them.”
Payments will be delayed by one year to 2020 for six of the highestpaid executives, the Montrealbased company said in a statement Sunday night. The deferred amounts will only be payable if Bombardier achieves its performance objectives.
Executive payouts at the company stoked public anger in its home province as the maker of planes and trains boosted 2016 compensation almost 50 per cent after benefiting from taxpayer aid and announcing plans to eliminate more than 14,000 jobs. Quebec last year invested $1 billion in Bombardier’s C Series jetliner program, which entered service more than two years late and billions of dollars over budget.
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard took to Twitter on Sunday night to say he was “satisfied” with Bombardier’s decision to defer compensation. Opposition leader Jean-François Lisée called the move “scandalous” and asked for the bonuses to be cancelled.
Bellemare said on RDI television he received a call from Couillard on Sunday about the compensation, “which encouraged me to go faster. We’ve learned a big lesson here.”
He defended the compensation plan, saying the leadership team ushered its new C Series jetliner into service last year, won key orders for the plane from Delta Air Lines Inc. and Air Canada, supervised the first flight of the Global 7000 business jet and helped strengthen the company’s finances. About $16 million in total compensation will be postponed until 2020, he told Ici Radio-Canada.
Sixty per cent of Bellemare’s 2016 compensation won’t be payable before 2020, “and that’s a lot,” he said in a separate interview on Montreal’s 98.5 FM radio.