The Vancouver Convention Centre

Credit: BC PavCo

Public Eye - July 9

A Conventional Salary?

The top employee at the Crown corporation responsible for BC Place and the Vancouver Convention Centre is making 166.67 percent more than he did eight years ago, according to an exclusive analysis by Public Eye.

But that’s okay with B.C. Pavilion Corp. chair David Podmore because, according to him, the responsibilities of that job have grown along with those facilities.

Back in 2000, the corporation’s president and chief executive officer Warren Buckley was making $150,000—along with a $40,000 bonus.

At the time, then-tourism minister Ian Waddell told The Province’s Helen Plischke that salary was “rather high—too high.”

But, eight years later, Podmore said the feeling was actually “that that salary was too low for the nature of the position.”

So when Buckley came back to the corporation in 2008 following an eight-year absence, his pay was increased to $400,000—along with a bonus structure that saw him earn an additional $125,000 during the 15 months between January 2008 and March 2009.

“The position is very different today,” Podmore explained. “You’re talking about a facility that is virtually five times the size of the facility that was being managed in the year 2001.”

Moreover, Podmore said when he became involved with the corporation in April 2007, he wanted to hire someone who had “some experience not just on the operations and marketing side but also has some experience in the completion or construction of convention facilities.”

And, according to him, Buckley—who became president of the Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre following his first stint with PavCo—has those qualifications.

As for why Buckley is making 121.73 percent more than his immediate predecessor Barbara Maples—who earned $180,399 in fiscal 2008/09 under a secondment agreement that saw her paid until March 31—Podmore explained that the two executives had different roles.

“She reported to the chair and was responsible for the convention centre and Howard Crosley reported to the chair and was responsible for the stadium. So I changed it where you have a CEO and then a general manager of the convention facilities and a general manager of BC Place.”

Parking break

Last month, real estate services company Colliers International reported the median rate for monthly unreserved parking in Vancouver was $224, or $2,688 per year. But the Legal Services Society of British Columbia, the non-profit organization which provides legal aid in this province, gives four of its five top-paid executives a $4,704 “parking benefit.”

So what gives? Well, according to the society’s communications manager Brad Daisley, “The parking fee in the building is $350 a month—which works out with GST and PST to the amount recorded” in its executive compensation disclosure statement. Which means legal services should perhaps be looking for a new building.

Dollars and sense

You don’t often expect compensation packages for the provincial government’s top bureaucrats to be reduced. But that’s what happened to Partnerships British Columbia chief executive officer Larry Blain in March 2007.

That’s when the company’s board directors reduced Blain’s short-term incentive pay from 50 to 30 percent of his salary. This, after a biennial external review found such a reduced bonus would be more in-line with comparable executives.

As a result, Blain’s short-term incentive pay for fiscal 2007/08 was $105,000 rather than $143,400 he received in 2006/07. M

Sean Holman is the editor of Public Eye (publiceyeonline.com) and host of Public Eye Radio, which can be heard 8-10 a.m. Sunday mornings on CFAX 1070.