Golden Parchutes the Norm For Those Who Fail

As described in the previous post, Henri-Paul Roussseau got a $400,000 severance payout when he quit his job last summer as the CEO of the Caisse de Depot. Under his leadership the Caisse embarked on a foolish gamble to invest in the U.S. mortgage market. The Caisse is preparing to announce a 38 billion dollar loss.
Monseiur Rousseau is not the only idiot receiving a big payout for disastrous performance.

Over at UQAM the (Universitie de Quebec a Montreal) a building project at the Berri de Montigny location went badly over budget and would have bankrupted the university without a government bailout of 400 million dollars.
Th auditor general criticized those responsible and the province considered laying criminal charges against them. Instead two of the three implicated were given golden parachutes.

The ex-rector, Roch Denis, received $173 000 after leaving his job in 2007 and Mauro Malservisi, the ex vice-rector (responsible for financial affairs) took a retirement package in 2006 that included a $153 000 payout.

Over at McGill University, Ann Dowsett Johnston worked less than a year and a half as vice-principle and received an exit payment of $321 000. Coupled with her salary she pocketed $760 000, for 19 months of work. This from a school claims poverty.

At any rate, it seems that these golden parachutes exist for senior management in all government jobs and is unrelated to performance.