Doug Ford, fellow conservative clash over Build Toronto CEO’s $453,000 salary

Councillor Doug Ford and a fellow fiscal conservative clashed Tuesday over the salaries of executives at Build Toronto, Toronto’s city-owned real estate company.

Lorne Braithwaite, Build’s CEO, was paid $453,000 in 2010, including a bonus of $153,000. A senior vice-president, Don Logie, made $318,000, including a bonus of $106,000.

Build Toronto does not get direct handouts from taxpayers, but pays its employees with the money it makes selling or developing surplus public land.

The company was launched in 2009; 2010 was its first full year of operation. It returned a $20 million dividend to city coffers in 2011, and its chair, Oxford Properties Group CEO Blake Hutcheson, says it expects to provide $70 million this year.

Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, the Build critic whose successful council motion forced the company to disclose the salaries, called the bonuses exorbitant. But Ford, Build’s vice-chair, strongly defended them.

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Source: Rabble.ca 

Fords want to speed up land sales to ease debt

The young agency tasked with making money from surplus city land will soon provide a dividend of more than $10 million to the public purse.

The reaction from Mayor Rob Ford’s administration: Thank you. Faster please.

Build Toronto has been given control of 40 properties that are worth more than $200 million. Real estate heavyweight Lorne Braithwaite, the chief executive of the city-owned corporation, would like council to quickly hand over enough additional properties to double that value figure — and Councillor Doug Ford, Build’s vice-chair, would like to triple it, Braithwaite said with a chuckle in an interview.