As the minority Liberal government battles a $16 billion deficit, figures released Friday show that 78,901 public-sector employees have now crossed the benchmark set in 1996.
Who made what on the Sunshine List
Ontario’s $100,000 club grows
The list was released a week early to whet the public’s appetite for what is expected to be a tough, cost-cutting budget from Finance Minister Dwight Duncan on Tuesday.
Duncan has warned wages account for 55 per cent of government spending and told the Star the budget will adopt half the recommendations in the recent Drummond report aimed at putting provincial finances on a sustainable footing.
“As Ontario confronts the challenges brought about by the current economic environment, doctors, nurses, teachers and every person in Ontario who delivers a public service of any kind here. . . have a role to play,” Duncan said in a statement.
Veteran Progressive Conservative MPP Jim Wilson repeated his party’s call for a mandatory public sector wage freeze, saying “urgent action is required to reduce the bloated size and cost of government at Queen’s Park.”
Many Ontario civil servants on the list earn more than their political masters.
For example, at the health ministry — under fire for poor oversight of the financial irregularities troubles at the ORNGE air ambulance service now under OPP investigation — deputy minister Saad Rafi earned $427,551.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Deb Matthews made $165,851.03, the same as Duncan and other cabinet ministers.
Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak earned $180,855.96 and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath $158,157.96.
Taking aim at salaries like the $753,992.40 paid to University Health Network boss Dr. Robert Bell, the New Democrats have proposed no public sector employee earn more than double Premier Dalton McGuinty’s salary of $208,974.
“This government has promised to put a freeze on CEO salaries yet some in the public sector have made nearly a half a million in raises this year alone,” said New Democrat MPP Taras Natyshak (Essex).
He was referring to Ontario Power Generation chief executive Tom Mitchell, who earned $1.824 million, including a bonus of about $500,000 delayed from the previous year, when his sunshine list income was $1.325 million.
While Wilson complained the number of public servants in the $100,000 club has quadrupled since McGuinty was elected in 2003, the government noted that the threshold has been eroded by inflation over the years.
If it had been adjusted for inflation, public servants would have to earn $139,000 to make the sunshine list.
But McGuinty has refused to change the threshold, saying $100,000 is still a lot of money to most Ontarians.
Formally known as the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, it was launched in 1996 by former Conservative premier Mike Harris to provide for transparency in salaries of public workers bureaucrats to police, teachers and others paid from the public purse.
Duncan said this marks the third year in a row that the average salary on the list has declined — this time one per cent, or $1,211 to $127,639, in the Ontario civil service.
Provincial politicians have had their pay frozen for three years and the government is proposing to extend this for another two years.
Top 10 salaries on Ontario's sunshine list
1. Thomas Mitchell, president and chief executive officer of Ontario Power Generation: $1,824,000.04
2. Clifford Nordal, president and CEO of St. Joseph's Health Care, London: $1,454,257.75
3. William Robinson, executive vice president, business transformation project for Ontario Power Generation: $972,641.88
4. Laura Formusa, president and CEO of Hydro One, $961,963.00
5. Wayne Robbins, chief nuclear officer for Ontario Power Generation: $893,527.24
6. John Murphy, executive vice president of hydro at Ontario Power Generation: $755,693.03
7. Robert S. Bell, president and CEO, University Health Network: $753,992.40
8. William Reichman, president and CEO of Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care: $740,669.86
9. Albert Sweetnam, executive vice president, nuclear projects for Ontario Power Generation: $719,985.00
10. Mary Haddad, president and CEO of Hospital for Sick Children: $712,000.00
Original Article
Source: Globe
Author: Tanya Talaga and Rob Ferguson
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