More names on the list

Another year goes by, and another Sunshine List comes out. And, as is expected, the number is larger than it was last year. More and more people, working for the public sector, are bringing home six-figure salaries that many people can only dream of.

This year’s list ballooned to a grand total of 115,432 people. That’s nearly the size of Oshawa, all making six-figures – and in the case of former OPG boss Tom Mitchell and William Moriarty, the CEO University of Toronto’s asset management company, seven-figure – salaries.

A look at the list shows just how much money is being wasted in some corners of the public sector. A quick look at the top 10 earners yields the names of four executives responsible for putting on the Pan Am and Parapan Am games over the summer. The games cost well over $2 billion, but brought in a little more than $200 million in revenue. That equates to more than $1 billion in debt for the province. Most people, quite understandably, would see this as a bad thing.

But rather than address why the budget was so high to begin with – it was 10 times that of the previous Pan Am Games, held in Guadalajara, Mexico, and the previous games held in Canada had brought in a surplus of $8.9 million – executives instead celebrated when the actual spending came in under the bloated budget, and celebrated by getting bonuses.

In most corners of the world, you don’t get a bonus when your project leaves behind more than $1 billion that needs to be paid for.

While the Sunshine List does name many professionals who deserve the money they make, it also lists those that exemplify money being misspent. At a time when the province is trying to gouge taxpayers for every extra nickel, it’s time it looked inside at these bloated salaries.