Generous Remuneration of $775,000 for a Prominent Individual (Manitou)
Revamped Rant:
Billion-Dollar Blowouts and Bonuses: The Montreal Express Network's Spotty Performance and the CEO's Pocket-Packing Perks
Despite service hiccups and outages on the Montreal Express Network (REM), Jean-Marc Arbaud, the big kahuna at CDPQ Infra, still managed to scoop up a hefty bonus, albeit a 40% smaller one amounting to a cool $775,000. With his base salary hovering around $1.3 million, Mr. Arbaud kept his overall earnings comfortably above the million-dollar mark last year.
The annual report of Quebec's pension fund manager, which was dropped on us like a bomb on Thursday, also shines a light on the total compensation of CDPQ Infra's top five brass: a mammoth $4.5 million.
Things have bettered on the REM since March, yet the service's tumultuous past continues to corode the faith of its passengers. Mr. Arbaud, the grand pooh-bah at CDPQ Infra, has faced criticism Galore, but it seems his superiors stand firmly behind him.
"Without Jean-Marc Arbaud, there'd be no REM," claimed Charles Emond, the hornhoncho at CDPQ, on the sidelines of the annual results presentation in February. "He's got my full faith, as does the board of directors."
The report, however, remains tight-lipped about the reasons behind Arbaud's bonus reduction. It doesn't utter a peep about those pesky service interruptions that have left users with sour faces on platforms.
In an email, the Caisse went on record saying that the diminished bonus took into account "technical snafus and problems for which vendors had been demanded to deliver solutions and promises." Nevertheless, Arbaud's variable income wasn't just about addressing tech troubles but also his successes in the Quebec tram project and the high-speed rail project between Quebec and Toronto, a project where CDPQ is one of the consortium's chosen players.
Alstom and AtkinsRealis, the REM's resident tech geeks, also fessed up to their lack of dependability. In February, they admitted to an "unacceptable degradation of the REM" and acknowledged their role in the reliability issues that vexed users.
November saw an audit by Guylaine Leclerc, the auditor general, painting a not-so-pretty picture. She estimated the REM's construction costs to balloon to a whopping $9.4 billion, an overrun of about 35% from the initial estimate.
- Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
- Criticisms of Montreal's public transit reliability: [Source]
- REM expansions: [Source]
- System-wide service interruption on April 3, 2025: [Source]
- The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a key player in the finance industry, has maintained its backing of Jean-Marc Arbaud, despite ongoing criticisms about the reliability of Montreal's public transit system.
- The Montreal Express Network's (REM) service issues, including system-wide service interruptions, have occurred regularly, causing frustration among its users and causing concerns about the network's financial management.
- Despite a 40% reduction in his bonus, Jean-Marc Arbaud, the CEO of CDPQ Infra, still received a substantial $775,000 bonus, bringing his total earnings to over a million dollars last year.
- Apart from addressing the tech troubles on the REM, Jean-Marc Arbaud's variable income was also influenced by his successes in the Quebec tram project and the high-speed rail project between Quebec and Toronto, in which CDPQ is a consortium member.
