Federal civil servants score hundreds of millions in overtime: Documents

Published Sep 18, 2024  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

Canadian flag flying with Parliament Hill in the background. Photo by File Photo /Getty Images

OTTAWA — While Canadians struggle with the ongoing cost of living and affordability crisis, newly-released documents suggest some overtime-addicted public servants are doing just fine.

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As questions swirl around Parliament Hill over the state of Canada’s bloated bureaucracy, documents obtained by The Toronto Sun show government agencies are shelling out hundreds of millions of dollars in overtime.

The data, contained in responses to an order paper question submitted by Conservative MP Earl Dreeshen, shows some employees pocketed tens of thousands — and in isolated cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars — in annual overtime.

Uniformed RCMP officers ranked among the highest of all government agencies, filing for more than $444.5 million in overtime last year.

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More than 11,000 sworn members of Canada’s federal police service pocketed $10,000 worth of overtime in 2023, with the largest payment to a single worker listed at $242,600.

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Civilian RCMP employees earned $19.2 million in overtime last year, with 544 netting at least $10,000. The highest amount paid to a single worker was $90,500.

The CBC paid its employees $27.2 million in overtime in 2023, down from the broadcaster’s nine-year high of $40.6 million in 2021.

One employee took home overtime earnings of $62,600, while 624 CBC workers pocketed more than $10,000 in overtime last year.

Franco Terrazzano, of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, accused Canada’s bloated bureaucracy is soaking taxpayers.

“We’re paying for tens of thousands of extra bureaucrats, hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses every year, ballooning costs for consultants, and now we’re seeing the government forking out hundreds of millions of dollars in overtime costs,” he said.

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“The bureaucracy is winning big, but taxpayers can’t even get good services from the federal government.”

While the National Gallery of Canada made overtime payments in excess of $467,000 last year, officials  declined to provide specifics out of concerns of identifying individual employees.

The 17,000 people employed at the Canadian Border Services Agency filed $143 million in overtime in 2023 — a record for the agency.

The data shows 4,800 workers earned more than $10,000 in overtime, with $200,900 listed as the highest payment for a single employee.

For the Winnipeg-based Canadian Grain Commission — the government agency responsible for regulating Canada’s grain growers — $3.1 million was handed out in overtime in 2023, with a single employee receiving more than $84,000 of that total.

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Here’s what others paid out:

— Canada Revenue Agency: $59.1 million, with the agency paying $112,000 — the agency’s largest ever single overtime allotment — to a lone employee. The agency’s most costly year for overtime was 2021 when taxpayers doled out $65.9 million.

— Transport Canada: $13 million, with 357 employees earning in excess of $10,000. The largest single payment was $113,800.

— Military Police Complaints Commission of Canada: Among the agencies that had more reasonable overtime numbers, it paid $1,611 to members of its 33-person workforce, with  $1,500 being the largest payment last year.

Polling released over the summer suggested 47% of Canadians want to reduce the size of Canada’s bureaucracy, which has grown over 42% since 2015.

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