B.C. Ferries is in hot water again this week as news has surfaced of the latest funding fiasco that has been offered up to Ferries' president and CEO David Hahn.
It was no secret that Hahn had a big salary to begin with and is one of the highest paid company executives in the province - he earns an estimated $1.2 million in salary and benefits a year. But now we have learned that Hahn was handed a compensation package worth $315,000 a year when his contract was renegotiated in 2006. This pension figure is outrageous - and do you know who gets stuck with the bill? We do, the taxpayers, the riders of the ferry service. And, in a ferry-dependent community such as the Sunshine Coast that gets bombarded by fare increases we just have to sit back and take, this pension news is another slap in our pocket books.
The Ferries' board, which negotiated Hahn's pension, is of course defending its decision this week. How can they not? With the waters bloodied and the sharks circling, do you expect the board to come out and admit that the compensation package is too high? Of course not. They have no choice but to defend their actions. And defend them they do, by saying that the increases were awarded because of Hahn's strong performance to date, and based on that strong performance, they did not want Hahn head-hunted by another corporation.
Board chair Donald Hayes said that B.C. Ferries was in such a sad state of affairs eight years ago that it was in a crisis state and the organization needed a complete overhaul. That overhaul, Hayes went onto say, has been successful due to the leadership of Hahn.
While we can't deny that the ferry service was in dire need of a shake-up and that Hahn has done a lot to improve the service and get the corporation back on track, is he really worth that kind of money? Last time we checked, Hahn could not walk on water, but at that price, maybe he should. This is clearly a case where we have a ferry board that has lost all touch with reality.
Premier Christy Clark publicly denounced the pension package, and even she can't figure out why it is so high. But, since it is a binding, legal contract, there isn't anything that can be done about it. Well, for starters, the board members who came up with this deal should all be fired as was suggested by The Province's Michael Smyth in his column earlier this week. Government has to start laying down the law when it comes to these executive salaries for any corporation at any level.
Money that could be going to back into the ferry system to improve the service even further, maybe lowering the fares, is instead going into the back pocket of the CEO. It's time for the gravy boat to stop.
