Bombardier chairman wants his pay scaled back

Quebec ministers ask heavily subsidized company to review big hikes to top executives

MONTREAL — A public uproar over a hefty increase in compensation to senior executives at Bombardier prompted the company’s chairman to ask his board of directors late Friday to scale back his pay to 2015 levels.

The flap over a nearly 50 per cent increase in compensation to Pierre Beaudoin and five top executives was becoming a distraction to the work done by employees at the transportation giant, the chairman said in a brief statement.

“I take this step to put the focus back on what matters — the transformation of Bombardier into the most competitive plane and train manufacturer in the world,” the Bombardier chairman said in the statement.

A Bombardier spokesman said the reduction in Beaudoin’s compensation would amount to $1.4 million US. He would not comment on whether the company’s senior executives would follow Beaudoin’s example and agree to reduce their compensation.

The statement came hours after a number of Quebec cabinet ministers called for Bombardier to review its compensation policy in light of the fact it is getting hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies.

Total compensation for the Montreal-based manufacturer’s top five executives and Beaudoin was $32.6 million US in 2016, up from $21.9 million US the year before.

The Quebec government gave Bombardier roughly $1 billion US in 2016, while the federal government recently announced a $372.5-million loan package for the firm’s CSeries and Global 7000 aircraft programs.

Provincial Economy Minister Dominique Anglade said Friday that the decision to award hefty executive pay increases outraged Quebecers.

“The decision that [Bombardier] took shocked the population — and with reason,” she said in calling for Bombardier to reconsider the pay increases.