The poohbas to experience a slow down in their rates of remuneration.

By Pepper Parr

September 12, 2016

BURLINGTON, ON

Did Ontario’s Sunshine list just get a little smaller?

If you’re happy and you know it – clap your hands.

Former Premier Mike Harris brought in what got to be called the Sunshine list – it was the names of all the people earning more than $100,000 annually.  In 2014 there were 111,400 names on the list, an increase of more than 14 per cent from the previous year.

The act was brought in under the Mike Harris-led Progressive Conservative government in 1996. At the time, Harris said it served as an important check on the public payroll.

Bureaucrats hated it – the public loved it and the Gazette of course published the list every ear.

The province began to sense that there was some concern over just how much of the public purse goes into the pockets of civil servants and decided it was time to put a cap on some of those salaries.

In a media release the province announced that

“Ontario is implementing a new framework for broader public sector executive compensation, including capping salary and performance-related payments for hospitals, universities, colleges, schools boards and government agencies.

The framework regulation comes into force on September 6, 2016, and applies to all designated employers under the Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act, 2014.

The framework caps salary and performance-related payments for designated executives at no more than the 50th percentile of appropriate comparators and prohibits signing bonuses, retention bonuses, cash housing allowances and pay in lieu of perquisites.

As part of this process, employers will be required to consult with the public when determining executive compensation programs and to post program details to their websites. Employers will be required to submit reports attesting that the compensation for their designated executives complies with the framework. Failure to complete this process could lead to penalties.

Ensuring executive compensation in the broader public sector is accountable and transparent is part of the government’s economic plan to build Ontario up and deliver on its number-one priority to grow the economy and create jobs.”

And of course a few of the jobs that will be created are the people hired to manage all the paperwork. Ya gotta love the ingenuity of it all.

QUICK FACTS provided by the province:

• The Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act, 2014 was proclaimed on March 16, 2015 and applies to approximately 340 employers, including hospitals, school boards, universities, colleges, and designated provincial agencies.

• Designated executives under the legislation are employees and office holders eligible to receive $100,000 or more in a calendar year, including CEOs, presidents, vice-presidents, chief officers, directors of education, and supervisory officers at school boards.

• Executive compensation at hospitals, school boards, colleges, universities, and hydro entities has been restrained under the Broader Public Sector Accountability Act, 2010 since March 31, 2012. All elements of compensation have been frozen, including base salaries.

• The existing freeze on salaries for executives under the Broader Public Sector Accountability Act, 2010 remains in effect for a designated employer until the employer posts their final executive compensation program to their public website.