By now you may have heard that the so-called Sunshine List of public servants who earn more than $100,000 has grown again this year.
It’s easy to sit back with no practical knowledge of most of these jobs and say those in them don’t deserve the huge six-figure salaries, and that’s precisely what the list is about. Organizations such as hospital networks will go on and on about needing to retain top talent with huge pay packets but you and I both know that if those packets were cut in that top talent would still stick around. The CEO of London Health Sciences Centre made a little more than $580,000 and that doesn’t include other freebies and benefits she’s entitled to. It makes me grimace every time I get an appeal in the mail from LHSC asking me to contribute to health care. As a taxpayer I (and you) already unwillingly contribute to dozens of bloated salaries there.
Premier Kathleen Wynne said last week that she thought the threshold of $100,000 grand should be raised before anyone’s salary is made public. Her logic: $100,000 isn’t what it used to be. Congratulations to the new Premier. This is the first statement she has made that shows she’s out of touch with the people. This list is getting so long, including more than 88,000 people this year, that printing it might kill more trees than the Emerald Ash Borer. That doesn’t mean the threshold should be raised to reduce the embarrassment on the government. Every year, there’s a call for a review of some of the biggest salaries and every year nothing is done.
It was more than a decade ago but I’ll never forget Eleanor Clitheroe at Hydro One, will you? She took home more than $2.2-million in pay and was allowed to write off more than a quarter-million worth of expenses when she was fired in an expense-account scandal. Among other things, she was sending her children to school every day via a company-paid limo. There’s still an awful lot of money in the power sector. Recently departed Hydro One CEO Laura Formusa made more than a million and Ontario Power Generation CEO Tom Mitchell topped the entire list at $1.72-million. Two of his top executives take home three-quarters of a mil.
There is also something wrong when the city of Toronto has several parking enforcement workers on the list. This is a job that requires a high school diploma, full stop. I will not stand for criticism of firefighters, though. The same old complaint comes up – there aren’t enough fires! Well fire prevention is part of their job so they’re doing a good one. And I maintain that it’s worth it to pay them well for those times when there are fires because they will run into it while everyone else is running away.
In this city it’s mostly health care that’s sucking tax dollars away and it’s not on the front lines. Beds get closed and wait-time targets are still not being met. The money’s in the mansions and offices of the executives who deserve to make a good living, but not one that’s so out of balance with the services they’re contracted to deliver.
Lisa, I listened to you and Paul Cook for years on 680 when I worked in Toronto, and I too relocated back to London five years ago for a slower pace of life. I have to comment on the entire notion that the majority of public-sector workers are overpaid. I made the transition to the public sector when I moved to London in 2008 after 21 years working for private-sector hospitality, transportation, and logistics firms. I have first-hand knowledge that most of these positions (I’m referring to management) are paid considerably less than their private-sector equivalents. I have no bonus, no stock-options, and my pay increases generally fall in lock-step with the collective agreements negotiated with the bargaining-unit employees. I took my current job for the opportunity to serve the public and make a contribution to building the services that are closest to people’s daily lives. I didn’t take the job to get rich. While $100,000 is a generous salary (which, BTW, I don’t make), it is not exhorbitant when placed alongside similar jobs in the private sector. I was over $100k before 2008, and actually took a pay cut to take my current job. Most of the jobs that are earning over $100k require degrees or technical qualifications, in addition to years of experience that are commensurate with the remuneration paid. Where unionized positions creep over $100k, it’s typically because management are handcuffed by hiring freezes, and the existing workers accumulate many hours of overtime.
Just my 2 cents worth, for what it’s worth.
Hi Tyson. Thanks for your comment. I certainly don’t think most public servants are overpaid. But unlike you, parking enforcement officers have a high school diploma and yet they can twist the system so they make six figures. That doesn’t seem right! I really appreciate your input, fellow Londoner!