This is your life

The future is in our past -

Do you care how much money the chief executive officer (CEO) and senior vice presidents of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) make? Perhaps you thought that the government had a handle on the amount of money the top executives of a federal Crown Corporation could pocket. Think again!

Last year, after the corporation lost $24 billion of taxpayers' money, the senior executives still saw fit to award themselves $7 million dollars in bonuses. Is there something off beam when top executives profit from pathetic performances?

The impact of this affront to ordinary workers has been lost on many Canadians. This is evidenced by the way CEOs continue to give, and citizens accept, time worn excuses for such actions. Canadians accept 'if we don't give managers large bonuses they will leave' and 'we need to give large salaries to attract the brightest and the best', without question.

Now that we have an indisputable record of the outcomes of their 'brightest and best' performances, let's call their bluff. Keep in mind that no one is indispensable. If they leave, there are plenty of bright young minds out there waiting for jobs. Those young people may just bring a fresh, non-greedy approach to the table.

The idea that corporate management houses the brightest and the best should have been well and truly scrapped, after the recent global economic goon show. Whatever else those CEOs happen to be, they're not the brightest and the best. They are more likely the easily led followers of self-promoted economic gurus. Anyone can be that. One simply has to go with the flow. How hard can it be?

It's time to wake up! As the CPP slides, the government is busy bailing out the auto industry with money they will never recover. The idea behind that bailout is as elusive as the wind. Workers won't benefit, for the industry is going to be downsized drastically, with the resultant loss of jobs.

Surely the auto industry would have been better served by the market forces the conservatives are so fond of promoting. The government would likely see more economic benefits if they paid money directly to the workers who lost jobs.

Before we are blindsided again, we had better ask what's in store for CPP? The CPP is a vehicle packed with the money of ordinary workers. Investment has never been more risky. Will the CPP be protected for future recipients? Will the CPP still be dependable after the dust settles?

Not many people care to connect the dots but the same sort of skimming off the top is happening in all organizations. Someone really needs to get a handle on what is happening in health care. The health care boards are steeped in the same corporate cup as all other corporations. Pay the top big money and let the dice roll.

On my last international flight, there was a flight attendant sitting next to me. At the time there was talk of Air Canada's contemplating bankruptcy protection again. The flight attendant laughed at that option. "Been there, done that," she said. "The only thing I care about is keeping my pension when I retire in May. During the last bankruptcy, my cousin lost nearly all of her pension."

In 2007, Air Canada's CEO, Robert Milton, received $43 million in bonuses at a time when they were negotiating lay-offs of lower salaried workers. The flight attendant told me that in her 30 years at Air Canada she had seen it all. When she started at the company, the CEO was paid less than the pilots. Can you compare what the pilots get paid now to the $43 million bonus for the CEO?

The same thing happened in health care. Like the pilots, three decades ago, the doctors were the highest paid workers. The pilots and the doctors have to guarantee the safety of the public. They are on the front lines making decisions that affect us all. Are we satisfied to see management paid more than hands-on workers who have direct charge of our safety? Is there any logical justification for concentrating riches at the top of even a single government corporation?

There clearly needs be a structural overhaul of the way corporations are managed and run. For instance, changing the CEO at Eastern

Keep in mind that no one is

indispensable. If they leave, there are plenty of bright young minds out there waiting for jobs.