AIR CANADA's PIGS AT THE TROUGH

Air Canada paid its top executives and managers a combined $10 million in bonuses tied to the COVID-19 pandemic late last year, despite the airline losing billions of dollars and cutting thousands of jobs in 2020.

The bonuses, which were outlined in the airline’s annual proxy circular to shareholders, came with special stock rewards that were meant to compensate those executives for salary cuts they took as the pandemic wreaked havoc on the travel industry. Yet they also came as Air Canada was negotiating a multibillion-dollar rescue package with the federal government — one that caps future executive compensation.

The airline justified the bonuses and stock awards to shareholders by saying the senior executive team “reacted urgently, decisively and skillfully to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the company.”