OMAFRA salaries: $100,000 and up

2021 “sunshine list” grows 8 per cent at ag ministry

Farmers Forum staff

ONTARIO — The crop of Ontario public servants paid six figures continues to rise. In a harbinger of the impending spring planting, the province in March released the annual “sunshine list” of employees collecting $100,000 or more last year, and it includes an 8% longer list at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

All told, 244,391 people employed in this province’s public sector made the list in 2021 — up almost 19 percent from the 205,607 six-figure recipients in 2020. Two hundred and ninety of them worked at OMAFRA, up from 269 a year earlier.

New OMAFRA Deputy Minister John Kelly was tops at his ministry, with $268,458. Number two was Assistant Deputy Minister Randolph Jackiw, with a salary of $224,893 — up only slightly from last year.

Add an average 25 per cent to salaries on the sunshine list to account for taxable benefits and pension plans that make up total compensation paid out by taxpayers, according to The Fraser Institute.

Four of the top five salaries overall went to Ontario Power Generation executives, each collecting over $1 million. They were led by president and CEO Kenneth Hartwick at over $1.628 million, whose pay jumped about 32% over his $1.23 million remuneration in 2020.