"abolished." The bonus structure was for between five to 10% of their salaries - totalling about $300,000. At the time, the Liberal Social Development minister stated: "That is up to the board to decide how they compensate staff at CLBC. But what they will do is they will go away and look at a new system of compensation that doesn't include a bonus-type structure." Interpretation: they can still have the money; they just can't say it was a bonus.
Fast forward to this spring and surprise! surprise! there are no more bonuses but the people scheduled to get a 5% bonus are now getting a 4.99% raise and those in line for a 10% bonus are seeing their salaries go up 9.66%. Thankfully, we cannot be outraged by this because, as our illustrious premier explained, these are not bonuses but "holdbacks." As she explains, after much sputtering and humming and hawing "What used to happen before is that they had their base pay -- some of it was held back until they met specific targets." Wow. So now they don't have to earn their bonus - we just hand it to them. While I am confident that the premier does not have the sense to be ashamed of not only these actions but her ludicrous explanation, I certainly hope that Stephanie Cadieux does. And what about the people receiving these bonuses? How can they accept this money knowing that they are not meeting the needs of the people who it is their job to service? Greed. Greed. Greed. That must make all those in need of CLBC services who are not receiving them feel much better.
Incidentally, CLBC reports that it costs about $48 800 per year*, on average, to provide supports and services per adult per year. Surely, the $300 000 would be put to better use providing support for six additional individuals.
Perhaps our premier could spend less time prepping for media coverage and her overpaid PR consultant could teach her the meaning of "priority" and "decency."
*http://communitylivingaction.org/facts/funding/
