Sprott Asset Management Portfolio Manager Eric Nuttall is all for executives making their due, but is decrying the bonuses awarded to executives at Bombardier (BBDb.TO) as a bridge too far. In an interview on BNN, Nuttall said the payments to top executives are egregious, given the company had to seek financial support both the federal and provincial governments.

“As a Canadian, I’m sickened by the involvement of our federal government using your money and my money to bail out a loser company, and then having those executives give themselves a 50 per cent pay bump,” he said. “It’s just utter stupidity.”

Nuttall said he was unmoved by the nature of the performance benchmarks that triggered the payments.

“They didn’t lose half a billion dollars … what an accomplishment,” he said. “When you look at the decision-making of the management team that got the company into this situation, and then to reward them for that?”

Nuttall said he sees signs management teams are beginning to bend to shareholder dissatisfaction, and tie their compensation more closely to the performance of the company.

“There seems to be … a growing focus on the alignment between CEO and board compensation along with creating shareholder value,” he said. “Finally, shareholders are stepping up and saying, ‘This is absolutely ridiculous.’”

“I’m all for CEOs getting absolutely rich -- so long as they create a tremendous amount of value for their shareholders.”