(Wikimedia Commons)
By: Jimmy Kakish
The annual Sunshine List of Ontario’s top-earning public sector employees shows that more than 123,000 people were paid more than $100,000 last year.
The provincial government published the latest version of the list Friday and Ontario Power Generation CEO Jeffrey Lyash sits at the top of the list with a salary of $1,155,899 last year.
Humber College’s president Chris Whitaker makes nearly half that. He was paid a salary of nearly $469,839.32 – more than twice as much as Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne was paid last year.
Some Humber students say they’re troubled by the sum and that some of the money could be better used elsewhere.
“If [Whitaker] could take a hit of even $50, 000 less a year [and put that] toward some of the things [students] need on the campus, then I can’t see that being a bad thing,” said Brandon Worthing, a first-year marketing student at Humber.
“Basics. Some of the bathrooms don’t have any toilet paper,” he said. “Some of the doors aren’t working. I see lights that are always out in the hallways.”
Most College presidents walked away with between $200,000 to $300,000 in 2016.
Humber student Victoria Saucier said she thinks the money could be spread out better.
“The money should be distributed more evenly,” said the first-year radio broadcast student. “Food prices are way out of control. Everything on campus is way too much money and not a lot of people can afford that.”
It’s worth noting that Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders and Mayor John Tory made salaries of $332,511,59 and $184,666.04 respectively in 2016.
The Sunshine List was first posted in 1997 with just 4,576 names appearing on that list, about 4 per cent of last year’s list.