Source : Calgary Herald

CRTC, refugee board members enjoy 7% hikes

The Harper government quietly gave pay raises of up to seven per cent to hundreds of political appointees this year, bumping some recipients into annual salary ranges that now top out at $455,000.

Most appointees received across-the-board 3.9 per cent increases to their salary ranges in June, including a 2.1 per cent bump in base pay and increases to performance pay, but some saw even larger increases in their base-salary range.

The biggest hike in base pay rates went to those on quasi- judicial panels or tribunals, such as commissioners with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission or members of the Immigration and Refugee Board.

They got boosts of up to seven per cent, a higher figure because, unlike other appointees, they are not entitled to collect performance pay.

Among them was Linda Keen, head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, who saw her pay range rise to $204,300 to $240,400 from the $190,900 to $224,600 bracket. Konrad von Finckenstein, chair of the CRTC, was bumped up to $235,000-$276,600, from the $219,600-$258,300 range, an increase of a little more than seven per cent.

The Privy Council Office says the increases were recommended by the Advisory Committee on Senior Level Retention and Compensation, which reviews the salaries of senior bureaucrats and political appointees each year.

Deputy ministers and other senior government executives should also get a 3.9 per cent increase, the chairwoman of the advisory committee, Carol Stephenson, wrote in a letter to Treasury Board President Vic Toews.

The committee's consultations "suggest that the public service may experience shortages of specific skill sets for the employees who will be needed to replace retiring assistant deputy ministers and deputy ministers in the coming years," she wrote.

The Treasury Board approved the new rates in June.

The chief executives of Crown corporations remain the highest paid. They also received raises of 2.1 per cent this year, but the salary committee said it was concerned about the high percentage of CEOs already earning the maximum performance pay and said it would be "inappropriate" to bump up their extra pay.

That pushed the highest paid executive, Canada Post President and CEO Moya Green's compensation to $455,000, from a previous maximum salary of 445,600. Green also is eligible for a 25 per cent performance bonus. According to the Privy Council Office, the heads of Crown corporations are entitled to earn the extra pay for "successful achievement of objectives."

Most current federal appointees were named to their positions by past Liberal governments.

In March, a CanWest News Service analysis of appointment records found the Tories had made about 40 per cent fewer political appointments during their first year in office, compared to the previous 12 months under Paul Martin's Liberals.

© Calgary Herald