News Briefs (June 18, 2001)

BIG RAISES FOR CANADIAN CEOS
Toronto — Leading Canadian CEOs took home 42.9 per cent more in pay last year, an executive compensation survey shows. The survey, conducted by the Financial Post and William M. Mercer, found incentive pay accounts for a greater portion of pay compared to 1999. The survey polled 60 CEOs and found only four made less than $1-million. Seven of the 60 had total direct compensation packages of $10-million or more.

SPY AGENCY CHASED FROM JOB FAIR
Montreal — Two students who led dozens of protesters who drove Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) representatives from a job fair at Montreal’s Concordia University are facing expulsion. A CSIS information table was flipped over and pamphlets scattered while “Spies out of the university” was shouted through a megaphone. CSIS said it would not return. Later in the week, recruiters for the Canadian military were given a rough time.

CONFIDENTIAL IS ALWAYS CONFIDENTIAL
Toronto — According to a decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal, there is no time limit on how long employees can be restricted from using confidential information to hurt former employers. The court ordered three men to pay their former employer, McCormick, Delisle and Thompson, $260,000 for misusing confidential information in an attempt to steal clients after leaving the company. In the original trial last year, the men were found liable for breach of trust and ordered to pay damages totalling $30,324; the trial judge said had they waited 12 months they could have legitimately utilized their inside knowledge. But the three judges of the appeal panel increased the damages and in the ruling noted that, “no length of post-departure grace period would have protected the appellant from the consequences of the misconduct of these employees.”

CPP BOARD LOSES MILLIONS
Ottawa — The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board lost $852-million during a catastrophic year in the stock market. The CPP board, which manages 14 per cent of the entire CPP portfolio, lost the bulk of the funds during the last three months of its fiscal year that ended March 31. The $852-million loss represents a 9.4-per-cent drop in asset value, after a 40.1-per-cent gain the previous year. Most stock exchange indexes dropped an average of 17.8 per cent during the last fiscal year. “So we actually believe that the performance on a relative basis, and in the context of the markets generally, was quite good,” said John MacNaughton, board president.

MOST DANGEROUS JOB? TEAM MASCOT
Baltimore — Heat stroke, violent spectators, injuries to almost every part of the body, and being run over by television camera trucks, assorted carts and football players while dressed as a giant duck — it’s all in a day’s work for North America’s sports team mascots. A study of 47 mascots, conducted by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, put the occupation high on the list of dangerous professions. Ankle injures are the most common complaint, 40 per cent of mascots report chronic lower back pain, and 60 per cent suffered heat illness at least once with 30 per cent requiring intravenous fluids.

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