Almost a year ago while electioneering for mayor, John Tory signed a Code of Conduct which promised, among other things, to tighten spending rules and oversight mechanisms.
“We work for Torontonians — not the other way around,” he indicated back then.
You could have knocked me over with a feather Monday when I heard him not only sanction the outrageous bonuses of up to 20% for three senior execs approved by the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) board last month. But he also seemed to imply that doing so in secret was fine by him.
He would concede, but only when pressed about the optics of handing out bonuses when TCHC has close to a $1-billion repair backlog, that “sometimes the optics are difficult.”
As revealed in my column Monday, the board voted in secret Feb. 19 to reward general counsel Pamela Spencer and interim CEO Greg Spearn 20% bonuses, on top of their base salary for 2014. CFO Jason Gorel was awarded a bonus of 15%. The bonuses, which I calculated could cost taxpayers as much as $125,000, have already been paid out.
Tory told the media he took a look at the bonus criteria and was “satisfied” that the things listed were “done, many of them.”
I would argue, however, that if directing money to repairs, as he said one exec was charged with doing to get his bonus — in other words doing the job he’s supposed to do — is in Tory’s world rigorous enough to get a 20% bonus, that sure doesn’t say much about the standards he expects from his employees.
There is so much wrong with what Tory said I don’t know where to begin.
This is the man who is going to clean up the TCHC? Yikes!
This is the man who pledged to put Torontonians first and to be open and transparent?
Tory didn’t comment on the fact that a scandalous 20% was awarded to these people. Instead, he tried to spin it, as TCHC chairman Bud Purves did with me, that this was part of the total salary package for these execs.
What utter nonsense. I’m willing to bet that when the Sunshine List comes out next week it will show Spencer, Spearn and Gorel already made very generous salaries in 2014, without the bonuses (which won’t be listed until next year). Let’s not forget that they have generous benefits and a $700-a-month car allowance, as well.
Besides, who gets a 20% bonus these days, even in the private sector? It is especially distasteful to executives making big bucks when the TCHC has no clue how it will fund a whopping $1.7-billion capital repair backlog in the next 10 years.
Tim Collins, a three-year resident in a TCHC complex in the O’Connor-St. Clair Ave. area, said the top brass seems to forget they’re working for a non-profit housing authority.
“The people should come first and the backlog,” he said. “It’s not like any of them need the money ... It’s disgusting they are getting richer while buildings are falling apart.”
Bonnie Booth, a 15-year TCHC resident, noted that the slogan “We put residents at the heart of everything we do” really needs to be removed from the TCHC website.
Tory doesn’t appear to understand the difference between the public and private sectors.
That was particularly obvious when he said throughout his life, with every job he has had (except for the public service), he received bonuses, or performance pay as a component of his compensation.
That’s all well and good if you’re working for Rogers and providing a service for profit which customers can choose to use or not to use. Tory and his pals can knock themselves out awarding themselves perks and pay and they can do so behind closed doors.
But this is public money, and public money which is not being directed at repairs.
What about deciding on the bonuses behind closed doors and refusing to tell me, when asked, how much two consultants’ studies from Mercer and Global Governance Advisors are costing TCHC to look at performance pay for the rest of management from execs on down?
If anything, Tory’s milquetoast response Monday has enabled TCHC management to keep porking at the trough. He has become part of the problem, not the solution. By sanctioning the bonuses for the senior execs and performance pay in general, he has told the TCHC brass that it is fine to extend these bonuses to managers.
He has also sent a signal to those councillors on the board who’ve refused to defend their decision to approve the bonuses by hiding behind the in-camera argument — Ana Bailao and Joe Cressy — that it is fine to be unaccountable. And here I thought they were champions of the poor and disadvantaged.
I’m disgusted by all of it.
http://www.torontosun.com/2015/03/23/tory-becomes-part-of-tchc-problem-by-sanctioning-bonuses
“We work for Torontonians — not the other way around,” he indicated back then.
You could have knocked me over with a feather Monday when I heard him not only sanction the outrageous bonuses of up to 20% for three senior execs approved by the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) board last month. But he also seemed to imply that doing so in secret was fine by him.
He would concede, but only when pressed about the optics of handing out bonuses when TCHC has close to a $1-billion repair backlog, that “sometimes the optics are difficult.”
As revealed in my column Monday, the board voted in secret Feb. 19 to reward general counsel Pamela Spencer and interim CEO Greg Spearn 20% bonuses, on top of their base salary for 2014. CFO Jason Gorel was awarded a bonus of 15%. The bonuses, which I calculated could cost taxpayers as much as $125,000, have already been paid out.
Tory told the media he took a look at the bonus criteria and was “satisfied” that the things listed were “done, many of them.”
I would argue, however, that if directing money to repairs, as he said one exec was charged with doing to get his bonus — in other words doing the job he’s supposed to do — is in Tory’s world rigorous enough to get a 20% bonus, that sure doesn’t say much about the standards he expects from his employees.
There is so much wrong with what Tory said I don’t know where to begin.
This is the man who is going to clean up the TCHC? Yikes!
This is the man who pledged to put Torontonians first and to be open and transparent?
Tory didn’t comment on the fact that a scandalous 20% was awarded to these people. Instead, he tried to spin it, as TCHC chairman Bud Purves did with me, that this was part of the total salary package for these execs.
What utter nonsense. I’m willing to bet that when the Sunshine List comes out next week it will show Spencer, Spearn and Gorel already made very generous salaries in 2014, without the bonuses (which won’t be listed until next year). Let’s not forget that they have generous benefits and a $700-a-month car allowance, as well.
Besides, who gets a 20% bonus these days, even in the private sector? It is especially distasteful to executives making big bucks when the TCHC has no clue how it will fund a whopping $1.7-billion capital repair backlog in the next 10 years.
Tim Collins, a three-year resident in a TCHC complex in the O’Connor-St. Clair Ave. area, said the top brass seems to forget they’re working for a non-profit housing authority.
“The people should come first and the backlog,” he said. “It’s not like any of them need the money ... It’s disgusting they are getting richer while buildings are falling apart.”
Bonnie Booth, a 15-year TCHC resident, noted that the slogan “We put residents at the heart of everything we do” really needs to be removed from the TCHC website.
Tory doesn’t appear to understand the difference between the public and private sectors.
That was particularly obvious when he said throughout his life, with every job he has had (except for the public service), he received bonuses, or performance pay as a component of his compensation.
That’s all well and good if you’re working for Rogers and providing a service for profit which customers can choose to use or not to use. Tory and his pals can knock themselves out awarding themselves perks and pay and they can do so behind closed doors.
But this is public money, and public money which is not being directed at repairs.
What about deciding on the bonuses behind closed doors and refusing to tell me, when asked, how much two consultants’ studies from Mercer and Global Governance Advisors are costing TCHC to look at performance pay for the rest of management from execs on down?
If anything, Tory’s milquetoast response Monday has enabled TCHC management to keep porking at the trough. He has become part of the problem, not the solution. By sanctioning the bonuses for the senior execs and performance pay in general, he has told the TCHC brass that it is fine to extend these bonuses to managers.
He has also sent a signal to those councillors on the board who’ve refused to defend their decision to approve the bonuses by hiding behind the in-camera argument — Ana Bailao and Joe Cressy — that it is fine to be unaccountable. And here I thought they were champions of the poor and disadvantaged.
I’m disgusted by all of it.
http://www.torontosun.com/2015/03/23/tory-becomes-part-of-tchc-problem-by-sanctioning-bonuses
