OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Dairy Commission gave its employees more than $265,000 in pay raises and bonuses during the pandemic while raising milk prices, according to records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

“It’s not fair to force struggling taxpayers to pay for bureaucrat pay raises and bonuses during a pandemic,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director of the CTF. “Bureaucrats at the Dairy Commission are padding their own pockets with more tax dollars while they’re increasing the price of milk taxpayers pay at the store.”

In 2020, the CDC gave pay raises to 57 employees (79 per cent of all employees), totaling $143,202. In 2021, the CDC gave 48 employees (66 per cent of all employees) a pay raise, costing $122,128. The CDC did not cut the pay of any employees in 2020 or 2021.

In addition to pay raises, the CDC gave bonuses to five employees in both 2020 and 2021. The CDC refused to release the amounts of the bonuses.

The CDC raised milk prices by an all-time high of 8.4 per cent on Feb. 1, 2022. The CDC  announced another increase of 2.5 per cent that will take effect on Sep. 1, 2022. The CDC raised milk prices in 2020 and 2021 as well.

The CDC is a Crown corporation that regulates the Canadian dairy industry by setting benchmark milk prices that affect what Canadians pay for milk in grocery stores. The CDC received $3.9 million from taxpayers in 2019-20 and $4.7 million in 2020-21. The increase in taxpayer funding is “to fund increased salary expenses,” according to the CDC’s most recent annual report.

“It’s tone deaf for the Dairy Commission to hand out pay raises and bonuses while making milk more expensive,” said Terrazzano. “Bureaucrats should be sharing in the tough times, not taking more money from taxpayers to fund their pay raises and bonuses.”