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The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has found that under the Trudeau government, the number of federal executives has soared to eyebrow-raising heights. Records obtained by the CTF showed that the Trudeau government has 9,155 bureaucrats classified as executives. That is a 42 percent increase since 2016, when the total number of federal executives was 6,414.
Of course, this staggering expansion of the federal bureaucracy does not come without a cost. As the c-suite’s numbers keep skyrocketing, so does the price of keeping it afloat. Franco Terrazzano, CTF’s Federal Director, says that “the government has ballooned the bureaucracy across the board, but even more concerning is that this government is swelling the ranks of its most expensive bureaucrats.” Terrazzano argues that Trudeau must cut down on his c-suite spending: “Trudeau should go after the fat cats first, and that means cutting back the size and cost of the federal c-suite.”
The CTF found that federal executives are paid salaries ranging from $134,827 to $255,607. 90 percent of these executives receive a yearly bonus, averaging approximately $18,252. In total, federal executives raked in $1.95 billion in 2022, showcasing a 41 percent increase since 2015.
The expansion of the federal c-suite has mirrored the expansion of the federal bureaucracy since the Trudeau government came to power. The federal bureaucracy has increased by 42 percent, with 108,000 new bureaucrats to pay, costing the government 68 percent more since 2016, reports the CTF. Likewise, Trudeau’s government has also rang up an all-time high on consultants: $21.6 billion for 2023-24.
Terrazzano wants taxpayers to get their money’s worth out of the federal bureaucracy. “Taxpayers are paying for more executives taking bigger salaries and bigger bonuses, but the government still can’t deliver good results,” Terrazzano remarks. “Can anyone in government explain why we’re paying so much for so little?”
The CTF Federal Director’s question is not unfounded: in 2022-23, federal departments only hit 50 percent of their performance targets, reports the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. In the years preceding this (2018-2021), federal departments did not even meet half of their performance goals. Taxpayers cannot help but be frustrated when the federal bureaucracy’s performance quality is not proportionate to their payout quantity.
“Taxpayers are paying through the nose because everywhere you look the size and cost of government is ballooning,” Terrazzano says. “If any politician is serious about fixing the budget and cutting taxes, they will have to shrink Ottawa’s bloated bureaucracy.”
