TORONTO — About 4,000 extra provincial employees can say that sunny days are here again after the province released the 2015 Sunshine List on March 24.
Former PC leader Tim Hudak said last year there were 1.1 million Ontario public service jobs. The number of provincial public servants making at least $100,000, not including their pensions, ballooned last year to 115,431. That means about one out of every 10 provincial government workers made at least $100,000.
Overall, that’s a 3.6 per cent jump from last year’s 111,438. That number could have been even higher but the government didn’t include at least 4,000 Hydro One employees as the electricity company is about to be privatized.
OMAFRA wasn’t immune to the swelling, with 144 employees earning at least $100,000 in 2015. That’s up 8.3 per cent over 2014’s 133 employees and a 279 per cent increase from the 38 OMAFRA employees that earned that in 2010.
The top-earning OMAFRA employee is once again deputy minister Deborah Stark at $209,682.07, the second year in a row she’s been the highest-earning OMAFRA employee.
The top-earning Ontario public servant last year was former Ontario Power Generation CEO Tom Mitchell who earned an astounding $1.5 million, the fourth year in a row he’s been the highest earner. He retired last August.
Premier Kathleen Wynne earned $208,974.00. Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal earned $165,851.04.
Here are the $100,000-plus earners at agriculture-related ministries, agencies and universities:
University of Guelph: 830
Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change: 337
Ministry of Natural Resources: 312
Ministry of Agriculture: 144
Agricorp: 38
VineLand Research & Innovation Centre: 16
OSPCA: 9
Soil and Crop Improvement: 4
Agricultural Adaptation Council: 1
Grape Growers of Ontario: 1
Ontario Agri-Food Education: 1
Ontario Agri-Food Technologies: 1
Rural Ontario Institute: 1
