Top 100 CEOs in Canada earned $7.7 million on average

Published on Monday December 31, 2012 The Star.com

As at 6:49 Wednesday Jan 2.

By the end of the lunch hour on Jan. 2, the highest paid chief executive officers in Canada will have earned as much as the average Canadian makes all year, a new survey of CEO pay shows. The top 100 CEOs in Canada earned $7.7 million on average in 2011, the latest data collected by an Ottawa-based think tank found. In comparison, the average industrial wage was $45,488, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives notes. This is the seventh year the policy group has prepared a database of executive pay based on publicly available documents.
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Among the highest paid CEOs in Canada:
 • Michael Pearson, head of Montreal-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., came in second, with a pay packet of $36.3 million, most of it in shares. Formerly known as Biovail, Valeant’s products include the antidepressant Wellbutrin.
 • In third place, Robert Quartermain, head of Vancouver-based gold exploration firm, Pretium Resources Inc., at $16.9 million. Pretium’s share price doubled during 2011, ending the year at $12.51.
 • The top 10 also includes Bradley Shaw of Shaw Communications; Ned Goodman of Dundee Corp.; Rick George of Suncor Energy Inc.; Donald Walker at Magna; Gerald Schwartz at Onex Corp.; Robert Friedland at Ivanhoe Mines, and Peter Marrone at Yamana Gold Inc.
 • The heads of the five biggest banks in Canada were all within the top 20 highest paid CEOs, earning an average of $11 million each.
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