Pan Am Games bonuses under fire from opposition parties

Premier Kathleen Wynne is defending huge bonuses to dozens of Pam Am executives totalling almost $6 million as the games came in on time, under budget.

Thestar.com
Sept. 16, 2015
By Richard J. Brennan

Premier Kathleen Wynne is defending huge bonuses to be paid to dozens of Pam Am executives, arguing that the games came in on time and under budget because of the incentives.

More than 50 of the top Pan Am Games brass are expected to line up for their share of almost $6 million. And some are to pocket up to 100 per cent of their salary, such as TO2015 CEO Saad Rafi, a seconded deputy minister, who will get $428,794.

Wynne noted that these officials were guaranteed bonuses or completion incentives provided the Games came in on time and on budget.

“The games were extremely successful ... My understanding is that there is a surplus,” Wynne told reporters Wednesday after going for a run with Toronto Centre Liberal candidate Bill Morneau.

“We had great games. It was well organized, and the folks who made that happen deserve a lot of credit ... and Saad Rafi led that team.”

Michael Coteau, the Ontario minister responsible for the Pan Am Games, said the early indication is that the games will come in $50 million under budget.

“Great work by Infrastructure Ontario (for) making the right types of decisions and putting in the right types of contracts!” he said.

Progressive Conservative MPP Steve Clark said these kind of generous bonuses are simply unacceptable.

“You have a situation where you’ve got 50 employees who make between $250,000 and almost a half million dollars and they get over $100,000 bonuses just for showing up and doing your job. There is no other job that’s like that. It is simply unacceptable,” Clark told the Star.

Clark has written to provincial Auditor Bonnie Lysyk asking her to conduct a “full audit” into the Pan Am Games.

New Democratic Party Leader Andrea Horwath said Ontario taxpayers “don’t accept” that a person should be so handsomely rewarded for showing up every day.

“The bottom line is most Ontarians don’t get that kind of a bonus for simply doing their job,” Horwath said.

The price tag set for the games was $2.5 billion, including the cost of an athletes’ village. The event drew 7,666 athletes competing in 51 sports at venues in 16 municipalities, including Toronto, Hamilton, Milton, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Caledon, St. Catharines and Welland.

Not included in that figure were the security and transportation budgets.