Federal execs received $200M in bonuses despite half of targets being missed

'Taxpayers can’t afford overpaid government executives rubber-stamping bonuses for each other,' CTF director

Published Jul 29, 2026  •  Last updated 1 hour ago  •  2 minute read

A pile of Canadian money. Photo by iStock /Getty Images

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OTTAWA — Despite not meeting their own performance targets, executives in Canada’s federal public service pocketed over $200 million in bonuses last year.

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That’s according to access-to-information records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which showed that roughly 88% of eligible federal executives took home the extra cash through a combination of performance pay, “at-risk” pay and bilingual bonuses.

“Taxpayers are fed up with Ottawa’s entitlement culture, where bureaucrats think they deserve more money just because they’re on the government payroll,” Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, told the Toronto Sun. 

“Bonuses are for when you do a good job, not when you write your own test and barely get a D-minus.”

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   Canada Post doles out $30.8M in bonuses while receiving billions in federal bailouts

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   CMHC dished out $31.7M in bonuses last year despite housing crisis, records show

Canada Post handed out $30M in bonuses

According to tables published online by the federal government, nearly 54% of performance targets were met last year.

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As reported in the Toronto Sun earlier this month, Canada Post — the troubled Crown corporation that routinely receives billions in government funding and bailouts — handed its top executives and managers a little over $30 million in bonuses last year.

The Toronto Sun also reported on Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) dishing out $31.7 million in taxpayer-funded bonuses to its employees in 2025. 

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Shrink Canada’s bureaucracy, Terrazzano urges

Despite debate raging over which route Canada’s proposed high-speed rail line will take and years before any shovels hit the earth, Alto — the Crown corporation responsible for overseeing the project — handed out $2.8 million in bonuses to its employees, the federation reported earlier this year.

“Taxpayers can’t afford overpaid government executives rubber-stamping bonuses for each other. We need politicians to shrink the bureaucracy and make government more affordable,” Terrazzano said.

“Carney keeps telling Canadians he’s going to spend less, but if he was serious about saving money then he would end these taxpayer-funded bonuses for failure.”

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