Federal Tourism Agency were handing out bonuses and pay raises in the midst of the pandemic

BY PAUL JUNOR

Over the years, the CTF has fought against the intrusiveness of the Canadian Revenue Agency, resisted the push of corporate welfare bailouts, and tried to restrict government deficit spending. The CTF has a membership of five people and that it is not now, nor has ever been, a grassroots, member-based organization. They are not a citizen’s advocacy group, but a donor’s advocacy group. The emphasis is on taxpayers, as opposed to citizens.

The CTF issued a press release on Wednesday, September 14^th, after it obtained records through access to information requests regarding bonuses and pay raises in 2020 and 2021 paid to employees at Destination Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Records obtained by CTF revealed that there were 84 employees at Destination Canada who obtained bonuses in 2020 that amounted to $617,095, and 92 received $604,153. Overall, 87% of the total employees in 2020 and 76% in 2021 received bonuses. Destination Canada acknowledged the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism industry and observed that executive’s bonus pay was reduced in 2021 to an average of $16,126 from $32,652 in 2020, Furthermore, 79 employees obtained a pay raise in 2020 and 63 in 2021 totaling $349 309. No one received a pay cut.

Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director of the CTF states in the press release, “A federal Crown corporation dedicated to promoting tourism shouldn’t have been giving its employees bonuses and pay raises while our tourism industry wasn’t allowed to host tourists. It’s a good bet that there weren’t many servers getting bonuses when restaurants closed during the pandemic, so bureaucrats responsible for promoting tourism shouldn’t be receiving bonuses when the government wasn’t letting tourists travel to Canada.”

Data revealed from Destination Canada indicate that approximately 900,000 jobs were cut in 2020 from the tourism sector, which amounts to around 43% of total workers. Furthermore, in 2021 there was a loss of 360,000 workers, a reduction of 21% compared to pre-pandemic levels. Terrazzano observes, “It’s tone deaf for Destination Canada to hand out bonuses and pay raises while the industry it’s supposed to promote was shut down. Federal Crown corporations should be sharing in the rough times, not handing out bonuses and pay raises while their neighbours outside government take cuts and lose their jobs.”