Over 377,000 Ontario public servants appear on Sunshine List
Former Ontario Power Generation CEO Kenneth Hartwick tops list again, taking home $2 million in annual salary
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OTTAWA — $2 million dollars, plus benefits.
That’s what Kenneth Hartwick — the former President and CEO of Ontario Power Generation (OPG) — took home in salary in 2024, topping Ontario’s latest sunshine list.
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It’s the first time Hartwick’s salary has broken $2 million, with the annual public-sector salary disclosure revealing he earned $1.93 million in salary in 2023.
In 2024, 377,666 Ontario public servants earned more than $100,000 annually across most provincial sectors and government agencies — around 77,000 more than 2023.
A little more than 10,000 OPG employees earned over $100,000 in 2024, taking up half of the spots in the top 10.
Ontario’s second-highest paid public servant is OPG’s Chief Operations Officer Nicolle Butcher, who earned $978,380 in 2024, with $1,358.88 in benefits.
That’s followed by Steve Gregoris, OPG’s Chief Nuclear Officer, who took home $919,310.33 last year.
Former Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster, who stepped down from his role late last year, came in fourth, earning $883,990,63 plus $13,826.58 in benefits, followed by University Health Network CEO Kevin Smith, who earned $883,097 — plus $93,927.19 in benefits.
The largest cohort are the 118,000 employees of Ontario school boards, amounting to roughly 30% of the names on the list.
Just over 83,000 elementary and secondary school teachers appear across Ontario’s English and French language school boards — with 14,045 employed by the Toronto District School Board, and 5,255 with Toronto’s Catholic board.
The Peel District School Board has 9,015 employees earning over $100K annually.
Toronto, Ontario’s largest city, has just under 18,000 employees on the sunshine list — plus 6,113 Toronto police employees earning over $100K annually, and 6,841 TTC employees.
Ottawa, Ontario’s second largest city, has 4,713 workers on its list (minus police,) while Ontario’s third-largest city of Brampton only lists 1,425 employees.
That’s compared to Hamilton with 2,990, Mississauga with 2,098, Peel Region with 2,362, Durham Region is 2,464 and Durham with 2,464.
The Ontario Provincial Police have 5,824 officers and civilians earning over $100,000, while Toronto police have 6,113 and Peel Regional Police with 2,362.
As for employees of the provincial government, 31,506 employees of government ministries are on the list, 648 work for the legislative assembly and 18,724 work for provincial crown agencies.
The sunshine list was introduced in 1996, when a $100,000 salary would equal about $180,000 in today’s money.
Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said the best place Ontario Premier Doug Ford can find savings is to trim the fat in the Ontario public service.
“Premier Doug Ford needs to show leadership and make some cuts because taxpayers can’t afford to pay for a bigger bureaucracy taking bigger pay,” he said.
“Taxpayers have struggled through a pandemic, cost of living crisis and now a tariff war, when will these government bureaucrats ever share in the burden and take a cut?”
bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume
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