Ontario's 'sunshine list' tops 100,000 members for first time

By: Robert Benzie Queen's Park Bureau Chief, Published on Fri Mar 27 2015
Ontario’s taxpayer-funded $100,000 club includes more than 100,000 members for first time ever. The annual “sunshine list” of six-figures-and-up earners on the provincial public payroll released Friday included 111,440 people in 2014 — 13,644 more than the 97,796 the year before or a 13.9 per cent increase. That means the equivalent of the population of cities the size of Burlington or Thunder Bay made this year’s tally, which was curated in six volumes spanning 2,491 pages. As usual, Ontario Power Generation chief executive Tom Mitchell, who runs the nuclear operation, was the province’s highest paid civil servant, taking in $1.555 million last year. The silver medallist was also from OPG with former chief financial officer Donn Hanbidge, fired after a scathing 2013 auditor general’s report on the electricity utility, receiving $1.208 million, including severance. Bronze went to University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation’s president and CEO William Moriarty at $937,500. (more)

http://www.ontario.ca/government/public-sector-salary-disclosure
The Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, 1996 (the act) makes Ontario's public sector more open and accountable to taxpayers. The act requires organizations that receive public funding from the Province of Ontario to disclose annually the names, positions, salaries and total taxable benefits of employees paid $100,000 or more in a calendar year.

The act applies to organizations such as the Government of Ontario, Crown Agencies, Municipalities, Hospitals, Boards of Public Health, School Boards, Universities, Colleges, Hydro One, Ontario Power Generation, and other public sector employers who receive a significant level of funding from the provincial government.

The main requirement for the organizations covered by the act is to make their disclosure or if applicable to make their statement of no employee salaries to disclose available to the public by March 31. Organizations covered by the act are also required to send their disclosure or statement to their funding ministry or ministries by the fifth business day of March.