Canada pension fund boss gives up pension, bonus

The new chief executive of Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, Canada's largest pension fund, will renounce his right to a pension and some of his bonuses, according to media reports on Friday.

Michael Sabia -- a former chief executive of BCE Inc -- was appointed this month to revive the Quebec pension fund manager, which posted a record loss last year.

The appointment proved controversial, both because of the speed with which Sabia was named and the fact that he does not come from the predominantly French-speaking province.

Quebec newspapers said Sabia made public a letter on Thursday in which he rejected his right to a C$235,000 ($190,000) annual pension if he completes his five-year term. He will also forgo his bonuses for 2009 and 2010 and said he would not accept any extra reward if he left the job early.

"Since the very first interview we had with him, he made it clear that his motivations for coming to the Caisse were not linked to money," Caisse Chairman Robert Tessier told La Presse newspaper.

More here:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/0...nada_us_caisse
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I salute Mr. Sabio!

That is the kind of person we need more of! Now the Prime Minister should offer to take a pay cut! That could spark a small avalanche of followers and in no time we would have a few million to pay down the debt!!

He gave up a Million dollar bonus while at Bell too.

In fairness, he earned more money in two years at Bell then he could likely spend in the rest of his life...while I appreciate the gesture, let's not start the canonization process just yet...

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Michae[[l John Sabia BA, MA, MPhil (born 1953 in St. Catharines, Ontario) is the current CEO of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec[1] and a former CEO of Bell Canada and Bell Canada Enterprises [2].


Sabia, the son of the feminist Laura Sabia, held a number of senior positions in Canada's federal public service during the 1980s and early 1990s, including:

• Director-General of Tax Policy in the Department of Finance
• Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet (Plans) of the Privy Council Office.

]] Sabia's supervisor, Clerk of the Privy Council Paul Tellier, left the public service to assume the presidency of Crown corporation CN Rail in the early 1990s and subsequently persuaded Sabia to follow him to help in privatizing the company. Sabia's partnership with Tellier led to increasing respect within the Canadian business community for the rapid turn-around of the company's financial performance. Sabia held a number of executive positions at Canadian National Railway during the 1990s such as Vice-President, Corporate Development and Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer.

Sabia subsequently left CN to the executive offices at BCE.

On April 28, 2006, BCE announced that CEO Michael Sabia was taking a 555% pay increase, his salary being raised from $1.21 million CAD a year to $6.71 million CAD a year. The pay included a $1.25 million CAD salary, a $29.2 million CAD bonus that Sabia converted to deferred share units, a long-term incentive payout of $3 million CAD and other compensation, the filing shows. Bell Canada also posted record revenue increases for the previous fiscal year.

On September 21, 2007, Sabia announced he will leave BCE after the privatization deal closes. [3]
Michael Sabia's last day as CEO of BCE was on July 11, 2008.
Michael Sabia was controversially [4] named CEO of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec on March 13th, 2009. He replaced Fernand Perrault after the Caisse's $39.8 billion CAD asset-drop in 2008.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Sabia

Maybe he's worked out that if you can't spend it then it's superfluous. If so, then good on him.

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Difficult.

Does making alot of money make you a bad person?
Does giving up some of that money make you more Canadian?

I think the OP and the responses are flawed.

Creating a lot of wealth helps people.

Giving money to those people who really need it can do you the wealthy a lot of good.

Never study economics or it will obscure this simple, noble truth.

Why not have your wealth and human dignity too?

Really?

Why not?

I had no knowledge about his background earnings and wealth. Thanks, Atlas, for enlightening me. Now his generosity doesn't seem so outstanding anymore.


In the opening post it only says he gives up his pension and bonuses, not his salary!! He still brings home enough bacon!!!

Anyway, it is still a good and inspiring gesture in these tough times where so many ordinary Canadians are put hard to task to provide just the basics for their families. I see it every day!

Thanks, Frogen, you expressed it very nicely.

I'm not busting anyone's chops for capitalism, let him get what the market will bear.

But it's the same for charity. Some people/companies only do charity for the PR and tax advantages, which is OK from the standpoint of the charity.

But I'm not saluting anyone for their PR boondoggle.

Neither do I. Was Sabio boondoggling? It was mentioned, because it is a rarety someone giving up a chunk of money he was rightly entitled to.

I started this thread on an enthusiastic impulse without looking behind the scene nor doing any deep thinking philosophicly.

I think, Mr. Sabio wanted to set a good example and hoped others might follow by also giving up a small portion of their excesses. An avalanche could be started that way.

Again the market will dictate what is excessive, no? Was Bell Canada a government owned monopoly when this guy worked for it? If so, how did me manage the 555% increase?