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The Ontario government has published its annual Sunshine List of public sector employees who earned more than $100,000 last year.
Ontario Power Generation executives, a pair of hospital CEOs, and a university president are among the highest paid people on the list.
At the top is Ontario Power Generation CEO Jeffrey Lyash, who was paid $1,554,456.95 last year.
Daren Smith, president and chief investment officer of University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation, who earned $936,089.48, and Glen Jager, chief nuclear officer for Ontario Power Generation, who earned $858,445.43, round out the top three.
At the top of the Sunshine List is Ontario Power Generation CEO Jeffrey Lyash, who was paid $1,554,456.95 last year. (LinkedIn/Jeffrey Lyash)
Other 2017 salaries in the top 10 include:
Bruce Campbell, president and CEO of Independent Electricity System Operator, was paid $749,862.59.
Mark Fuller, president and CEO of the Ontario Public Service Pension Board, was paid $745,211.84.
Scott Martin, senior vice-president business and administration services of Ontario Power Generation, was paid $739,854.78.
William Reichman, president and CEO of Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, was paid $722,875.00.
The only woman in the top 10 was Jill Pepall, executive vice-president and chief executive officer of Ontario Public Service Pension Board, who earned $721,224.22 last year.
Two hospital executives are also in the top 10: Michael Apkon, president and CEO of Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, who was paid $719,694.40, and Peter Pisters, president and CEO of the University Health Network, who was paid $718,300.56.
There are 131,741 workers on the list, an increase from 123,410 last year, earning salaries and benefits that total over $16.8 billion.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, at microphone, listens to a question at a news conference at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children on Friday. 'We think the people in the province have a right to know what folks are earning,' she told reporters. (CBC)
Premier says $100K still a lot to 'vast majority'
Premier Kathleen Wynne said on Friday she believes it's important for the government to publish the list. The 2017 version of the salary disclosure list was released on Friday morning.
"Let me just say that we are committed to transparency. We think the people in the province have a right to know what folks are earning," Wynne told reporters at a news conference in Toronto.
All agencies that receive public funding from the province must disclose the names, positions and salaries of each employee paid $100,000 or more in a calendar year.
According to provincial legislation, the disclosure requirement applies to municipalities, school boards, hospitals, universities, colleges, and many charities, in addition to the Ontario public service.
The $100,000 figure represents total pay — salary plus any bonuses or overtime — but not benefits. Taxable benefits are reported on a separate line.
Left to right: Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne was paid $208,974 last year. Her salary compares with that made by former Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown, paid $180,885.96, and by NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, paid $158,157.96. (Canadian Press)
Wynne said $100,000 is still a significant amount of money to the "vast majority" of Ontario residents.
The premier was paid $208,974 last year. Her salary compares with that made by former Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown, who was paid $180,885.96, and with NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, who was paid $158,157.96.
Christine Elliott, who ran unsuccessfully for the PC leadership, made $203,543.30 as the patient ombudsman for the Ontario Health Quality Council.
Doug Ford, who was elected PC leader, was not on the public sector payroll last year.
Ford said on Twitter that "there is nothing sunny" about the Sunshine List.
They call this the sunshine list, but for hard-working people of Ontario, there is nothing sunny about it. Liberals insiders and fat cats are getting raises while real folks in Ontario haven’t gotten a raise in years. #onpoli #PCPOLdr pic.twitter.com/AbLWlTGNqe — @fordnation
Toronto Mayor John Tory earned $188,529.02 and his chief of staff, Christopher Eby, made $195,077.35.
Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders, meanwhile, was paid $337,744.78, while former TTC CEO Andy Byford earned $346,791.51 for his efforts before leaving in late December.
Threshold would be $151K in today's dollars
The $100,000 salary threshold for disclosure has not changed since the legislation came into force in 1996, and has not been adjusted to keep up with inflation.
The government says if the salary threshold was adjusted for inflation, it would be $151,929 in today's dollars, reducing the number of employees included on the list by 85 per cent.
The Sunshine List was first published 20 years ago, by the Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris. Just 4,576 names appeared on the first list.
These were the highest-paid public-sector employees of 2017.
We've got Ontario's annual Sunshine List in a handy, easy to search database.
What should we investigate further? Email us at tonews@cbc.ca with the subject line "Sunshine List."
Nearly 9,000 workers whose Ottawa-based organizations receive funding from the Ontario government made at least $100,000 in 2017, according to the annual salary disclosure published Friday.
At the top of the local “Sunshine List” is Jack Kitts, president and CEO of The Ottawa Hospital, who pulled in $630,485 in salary and $69,108.37 in taxable benefits. Kitts, who has headed the hospital since February 2002, has the 23rd highest salary on the province-wide salary disclosure.
Bigwigs in the health and education sectors fill out the rest of the top-10 list for local moneymakers.
Duncan Stewart, the executive vice-president of research at The Ottawa Hospital, made $532,501.92 in salary, plus $2,002.31 in taxable benefits, landing second on the local list. Dr. Jeffrey Turnbull, who announced his departure as The Ottawa Hospital’s chief of staff last year, is third with a $475,658.19 salary and $10,020.28 in taxable benefits.
The Ottawa Hospital has 668 people in the $100,000 club last year, everyone from corner-office executives to registered nurses.
In fourth position on the local top-10 list is pathologist John Veinot, who made $464,289.53 and $1.931.04 in taxable benefits. He’s followed by Marc Sougavinski, CEO of the Champlain Local Health Integration Network, with a salary of $440,540.49 and $5,709.60 in taxable benefits, one of 43 people who work at the Champlain LHIN who cracked the $100,000 threshold.
University of Ottawa dean of medicine Jacques Bradwejn brought in $430,113.12 in salary last year, putting him sixth on the local highest-earners list. His taxable benefits were $35.90.
The University of Ottawa has 1,496 names on the Sunshine List, including president Jacques Frémont with a salary of $396,561 (plus $14,415.60 in taxable benefits) and former president Allan Rock with a salary of $394,999.92 (plus $15.60 in taxable benefits). Frémont and Rock are ninth and tenth, respectively on the list.
The president of the Montfort Hospital, Bernard Leduc, is seventh on the local list with a salary of $417,935.60 (plus $2,080.08 in taxable benefits). The Montfort Hospital has 126 people earning $100,000 or more.
Peter Ricketts, who’s eighth on the list, is the former provost and academic vice-president at Carleton University. He left the school to take the president’s job at Acadia University around mid-2017, but he was still paid $389,489.72 from Carleton.
Carleton University has 863 names on the Sunshine List. In rounding out the Ottawa post-secondary institutions, Algonquin College has 167 staff, La Cité has 59 staff and Saint Paul University has 22 staff on the list.
When it comes to local school boards, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board has 501 names on the Sunshine List, including 169 listed as teachers. The Ottawa Catholic School Board has 395 staff on the list, including 62 identified as teachers and 13 as “consultant teacher.” The French public school board has 115 staff on the list (18 teachers), and the French Catholic school board has 219 staff on the list (97 teachers).
At other health organizations, the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group reported 126 staff members on the $100,000 list in 2017, with president and CEO George Weber being at the top with his $387,082 in salary and $64,516.86 in taxable benefits. CHEO lists 181 staff members and president and CEO Alex Munter led with $329,999.82 in salary and $1,429.20 in taxable benefits. Queensway Carleton Hospital president and CEO Tom Schonberg was one of 91 QCH staff on the Sunshine List; he made $317,616.40 in salary and $1,775.54 in taxable benefits. Bruyère Continuing Care president and CEO Daniel Levac made $351,338.85 in salary and $11,668.66 in taxable benefits as one of 70 workers there on the $100,000 list.
The City of Ottawa has 3,432 staff on the sunshine list, with 67 per cent employed by either the police, fire or paramedic service. When removing police and library workers from the city’s list, 51 per cent of the remaining 2,115 workers have base salary less than $100,000, according to the city. Vacation payouts, overtime, on-call pay and retroactive payments shot employees above the $100,000 threshold.
Related
The Ottawa Police Service is in the same position. There are 1,302 Ottawa police staff on the Sunshine List, an increase of 99 staff from 2016. According to the police services board, 762 employees of the 1,302 on the list have a base salary above $100,000. Nine police employees on the list have a base salary of less than $80,000. Overtime was the main driver for putting police staff with base salaries below $100,000 on the Sunshine List. Other factors include payments for acting assignments, statutory holiday pay, special events and “responsibility pay” received after members achieve a certain number of years on the police force.
There are 84 members of the Ottawa Fire Services and 174 members of the Ottawa Paramedic Service on the $100,000 list.
As for the rest of city hall, city manager Steve Kanellakos was the highest paid in the corporation last year with a salary of $342,120.80, plus $8.807.52 in taxable benefits. Mayor Jim Watson pulled in $178,270.82 in salary and $592.44 in taxable benefits.
There were 85 bus operators on the city’s $100,000 list. The highest-paid raked in $132,078.82.
jwilling@postmedia.com
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