“OUT OF THE LOOP” STURGE: ENTITLEMENTS REVEALED

When Derrick Sturge, the “not in the loop” Nalcor Chief Financial Officer, went off with a compensation package of approximately $900,000 last November, CEO Stan Marshall stated in a release that he was legally entitled to a compensation package of approximately $900,000. Now the Uncle Gnarley Blog has obtained details of the “package”; we can say candidly that Stan likely worked harder bending paper clips for Fortis Inc. than he he did hold Sturge to account. 

Shovelled into the generous “send-off” were car allowances and even “performance” bonuses, (yes performance bonuses!) which extend until 2021. How do you justify such an award if you are not employed by the Corporation? Is this not emblematic of how bureaucracies “fix” salaries; the base sum merely a starting point? If bonuses are “guaranteed” rather awarded to an employee on the basis of an assessed above-average contribution to the Corporation's success in a particular year, shouldn't those awards be included in the salary base? And, remind me, when was the last year that Nalcor had a successful year? Ever?

What of car allowances? If the employee has left the Corporation, car usage becomes a personal, not corporate, expense. Again, how can Nalcor justify paying Sturge unless it was originally intended that his contract should be constructed using a “smoke and mirrors” approach to executive compensation?   

Sturge at Muskrat Falls Inquiry

The following is an excerpt from Sturge's severance package obtained under ATIPPA, providing a full breakdown of his severance/termination award:

 

Of course, the public may shrug off the award thinking, what's another million, anyway? Perhaps, perhaps not. Perhaps they are livid, as they should be, with Stan Marshall and with Siobhan Coady and Dwight Ball.

Let's not forget that what is not reflected in this compensation package, or in the Ball Government's handling of the matter, is that Mr. Sturge was among the senior executives who ran Nalcor and oversaw the Muskrat Falls Project. He, like former CEO Ed Martin and other senior executives who were/are involved in the debacle, are far more entitled to a public shaming than to a cheque.

Related to this Post:
$900,000 to Sturge: Nalcor Board an Echo of the Last One
Rock Solid: Another Myth Exposed
Siobhan Coady OK With Sturge's Bought Silence

Possibly, public quiet over the matter emanates from the belief that PM Justin will pick up this tab. They had better be right. But I sense that they are in for a disappointment. I expect that the NL public will be paying Gilbert's and Paul's pay-outs, too.

Alongside the cost of another settlement with Astaldi, a couple of replacement synchronous condensers, the screw-up in transmission software and a Chinese turbine or two — as the cost of Muskrat climbs to $16 billion — what's a few million more?

We'll just put it on the credit card, right?