Canada Post management given $30.8 million in performance pay despite record losses

Canada Post signage is pictured at its headquarters in Ottawa on Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

Despite record losses and a massive government bailout, Canada Post handed its executives and managers $30.8 million in performance-based payments in 2025.

Canada Post reported an unprecedented $1.57 billion in losses before tax in 2025 – the most it has ever recorded. As the federal crown corporation continues to hemorrhage money, Ottawa recently approved a bailout of up to $673 million to keep the postal service afloat.

In a statement to CTVNews.ca, a Canada Post spokesperson said the $30.8 million is part of an existing compensation program and comes came from Canada Post’s own revenues, not the “repayable government bridge funding” it has received.

“This amount represents less than one per cent of our total annual labour expenses,” the spokesperson said. “With our financial situation, we understand the optics and the concerns this decision will raise.”

The payments were revealed in a document Canada Post submitted to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates on July 9. The $30.8 million was first reported on Tuesday by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a non-profit taxpayer advocacy group.

“It’s infuriating that Crown corporation executives think they are entitled to bonuses when they’re hemorrhaging money and relying on taxpayer handouts,” Franco Terrazzano, the group’s federal director, said in a written statement.

“Prime Minister Mark Carney needs to step in and shut down these taxpayer-funded bonuses for failure.”

Record losses and the end of home delivery

The record $1.57 billion in losses Canada Post reported in 2025 was a 46 per cent jump over the previous year. The downslide has continued into 2026 with $205 million in pre-tax losses reported in the first quarter, which is a significant increase from the $41 million in pre-tax losses recorded in the first quarter of 2025.

The latest $673-million bailout also comes after Canada Post received a $1.03-billion cash injection from Ottawa in 2025, which Canada Post says it intends to repay.

“Canada Post is facing significant financial pressures after two decades of declining mail and millions more addresses to serve,” the Canada Post spokesperson told CTVNews.ca. “Our objective is to re-establish a sustainable, reliable postal service for all Canadians that can pay back those loans as quickly as possible.”

To deal with its financial woes, Canada Post has embarked on a major transformation plan that will shutter some post offices and eliminate home mail delivery for approximately four million Canadian households.

“We are undergoing the biggest transformation in our history,” the Canada Post spokesperson said. “It’s a major, multi-year job that requires us to retain the talented and experienced people needed to lead and deliver these changes for Canadians.”

An average of $13,000 each

Canada Post would not disclose a payment range or how many managers and executives received a share of the $30.8 million. With 2,377 employees in management positions, including 417 executives, the performance payments could average nearly $13,000 each.

Although they are tied to retention and performance, Canada Post refers to the money as “at-risk payments” and not “bonuses.” A separate “bonus program” exists for all of Canada Post’s 55,000-plus employees, but it has not paid out since 2011.

“Our focus is on ensuring we deliver the performance and results needed to transform, better serve Canadians and repay our debts,” the Canada Post spokesperson said. “We will continue to assess all aspects of compensation as part of this work.”

Canada Post and Canadian Union of Postal Workers also spent more than two years sparring over issues structural changes and wages that resulted in strikes in 2024 and 2025. In June, the union announced that postal workers had voted in favour of a new contract.

With files from The Canadian Press