A Quebec retiree’s advocacy group is hopping mad at the compensation awarded to the chief of communications at province’s largest fund manager, which far exceeds his North American counterparts.
QMI Agency reported Thursday that Denis Couture, executive vice-president of public affairs with the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is earning a salary of $355,000 a year, more than double that of communications officers at the California Public Employees Retirement System and New York State Common Retirement Fund.
In response, the Association québécoise des retraité(e)s des secteurs public et parapublic (AQRP), which represents retired government workers, released an angry press release calling for the appointment of a retirees’ representative to the Caisse Board of Directors.
“The Caisse has gone off course in its attempts to reassure its retiree clients, by hiring in the teeth of this storm any communications gurus — whatever their level of expertise — who are being paid out of their depositors’ funds,” said Roch Perreault, AQRP vice-president. “For less than one-tenth of Denis Couture’s salary, the Caisse could re-establish this confidence by appointing someone who represents retirees’ interests to its Board of Directors. Major institutions such as OMERS, the Régie des rentes du Québec and CARRA are already doing this.”
According to QMI, despite Quebec law, which stipulates that titles and salaries of all government workers are public information, the Caisse is refusing to disclose the salaries of two of Couture’s predecessors, arguing that it would damage the Caisse’s recruitment efforts and ability to negotiate employment contracts.
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