LILLY: Ottawa politicians treat Canadian CEOs worse than criminals

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Right now, being a corporate CEO in Ottawa gets you as much respect as a convicted murderer.

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In official Ottawa, CEOs like Galen Weston at Loblaws or Mirko Bibich at Bell Canada Enterprises have become the most hated figures of the political class, hated by all parties.

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It speaks to the rise of angry populism that all parties are playing on this front, and warns of dangerous policies like the NDP's insistence on excessive profits taxes.

On Thursday, Bibich appeared before the Community Heritage Committee to question the recent layoffs at Bell. Questionable is too kind a word — he was beaten like a piñata for two hours.

It didn't look good to Bibich, who sometimes seemed defensive – understandably so. It was not a good look for MPs on the committee, who seemed uncomfortable for much of the proceedings.

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The hearing was supposed to be about Bell's recent decision to lay off 4,800 workers, including about 450 at the company's subsidiary Bell Media. Instead, it turned into a grievance session in which lawmakers held Bibich accountable for everything from illegal firings, denials of the noon newscasts, the size of his salary and how much his company spends on U.S. programs.

“You failed to answer one of my questions directly today,” said Conservative MP Rachel Thomas.

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Of course, Thomas didn't want Bibich to answer the questions, he wanted to annoy him, like all the other MPs of all parties in the committee. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who is not normally a member of the committee, appeared to chastise Bibich in a number of areas, including taking advantage of staff cuts.

“You may have chosen to give consumers a break and make mobile and internet charges affordable, especially when people are struggling with the cost of living, but you chose to be stingy – how can you justify that,” Singh said while grilling Bibik. his company's dividends.

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Bell took out $3.7 billion in dividend payments last year, angering politicians, particularly Singh. This is another example of Singh's economic ignorance – he should be happy to pay dividends, not angry.

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These payments fund Canadians' retirement.

Bell is one of the most common stocks in Canada and a staple of pension funds and pension funds across the country. There is no person with a top hat and a monocle collecting these dividends, it is people who have retired or saved for retirement that receive the dividends, which is why pensions and mutual funds buy the stock.

But Singh is also the one pushing the fiscally illiterate idea that we need an excess profits tax.

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The idea, which could further weaken Canada's economy, could be in next week's budget as part of a coalition deal signed between Trudeau and Singh. If you think the layoffs at Bell and other companies are bad now, wait until this tax goes into effect and companies stop investing in Canada.

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I'm not defending Bell or Bell Media, I have some scars from working there. As for Bibich, I never met that person. Occupy Ottawa, the view across the political spectrum that successful companies should be punished unless they succeed, is dangerous.

We need politicians who want to implement policies that help companies grow and succeed. This legacy committee spoke to the CEO of a company that owns major media properties across the country, and they didn't talk to him about policies to help stabilize, grow and prosper the industry – they asked him different questions to make social media videos.

The Canadiens deserve better out of Ottawa, but they shouldn't hold their breath waiting for that time to come.

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