Sunshine List Grows in Ontario: Over 300,000 Employees Earn $100,000 or More

The ‘Sunshine List‘ continues to expand in Ontario, with over 300,000 employees from the public and para-public sectors earning $100,000 or more last year.

In 2023, the list comprises 300,570 workers, a 10% increase from the previous year’s 270,000.

In a statement, the President of the Treasury Board explained that the hospital sector, municipal sector, and postsecondary sector significantly contributed to the list’s growth.

Caroline Mulroney also mentioned that over 25,000 nurses are now on the list, primarily due to retroactive payments from the Ford government following the repeal of Law 124.

Law 124 had restricted public sector salary increases for three years but has since been invalidated by the courts.

The $100,000 threshold has remained unchanged since the first list’s publication in 1996.

We do not plan to update the threshold for the Sunshine List,’ stated government House Leader Paul Calandra shortly before the list’s release.

For the first time, a woman has made it to the top 10 highest-paid public sector employees. Nicolle Butcher, an executive at Ontario Power Generation, is ranked 4th with an annual salary of nearly $900,000.

Moreover, the senior leadership of Ontario Power Generation dominates the Sunshine List; the top five positions are held by executives from this Crown corporation.

Dominc Giroux, Jacques Frémont, Paul Dubé, Pierre Ouellette, Marco Fiola, Michelle Séguin, and Carl Bouchard are some of the notable names on the list with their respective positions and salaries.