Ontario has recently unveiled its 2024 Sunshine List, which features public sector employees with salaries exceeding $100,000. Topping the list once again is Kenneth Hartwick, the president and CEO of Ontario Power Generation, with a salary slightly exceeding $2 million. This marks an increase from his earnings of $1.93 million the previous year. In fact, employees of the electricity Crown corporation dominated the top positions on the list, with six individuals in the top 10, all earning at least $800,000.
Former Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster secured the fourth spot on the list with earnings of about $884,000 before resigning in December. Additionally, three health-care CEOs made it into the top 10, including Kevin Smith of University Health Network ($883,097), Ronald Cohn of Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children ($870,013), and Matthew Anderson of Ontario Health ($833,653).
The 2024 list comprises over 377,000 names, up from 300,570 in the previous year, with total salaries exceeding $50 billion. Ontario Power Generation alone accounted for 10,007 names on the list, totaling approximately $1.68 billion in salaries.
Several college presidents also featured prominently on the list, with Conestoga president John Tibbits earning $636,106.70, Humber president Ann Marie Vaughan earning $497,880.32, and Seneca president David Agnew earning $459,778.83.
Caroline Mulroney, the president of the Treasury Board, highlighted that nearly half of the list’s growth stemmed from the school board sector, primarily due to salary adjustments, retroactive payments, and recent collective bargaining outcomes.
Interestingly, 47 individuals from the Office of the Premier made it onto the list, with six earning more than Premier Doug Ford himself ($208,974). This includes his chief of staff, Patrick Sackville, who earned $328,098. Ford and Ontario MPPs have seen their salaries frozen since 2008, but Ford hinted at potential changes in the future.
See also Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s tough Bronx persona is under fresh scrutiny with a resurfaced childhood nickname from her suburban upstate New York upbringing casting doubt on that publicly portrayed image. The progressive champion’s latest spat with President Donald Trump over the Iran strikes again called into question her true upbringing when she declared on X she was a “Bronx girl" to make her a point against the president. The 35-year-old congresswoman wrote in part on X: "I’m a Bronx girl. You should know that we can eat Queens boys for breakfast. Respectfully," she said, referring to the president’s upbringing in Queens as she called for his impeachment over his decision to bypass Congress in authorizing U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx but moved to Yorktown – which is nearly an hour outside New York City -- when she was 5 years old and went on to attend Yorktown High School where she graduated in 2007. She was considered an accomplished student there and well thought of by teacher Michael Blueglass, according to a 2018 report by local media outlet Halston Media News. “There, known by students and staff as ‘Sandy,’ she was a member of the Science Research Program taught by Michael Blueglass," the report states. “She was amazing," Blueglass said, per the report. “Aside from her winning one of the top spots and going to the [Intel International Science and Engineering Fair], she was just one of the most amazing presenters in all of the years I've been at Yorktown. Her ability to take complex information and explain it to all different levels of people was fantastic." After high school, Ocasio-Cortez attended Boston University, where she majored in economics and international relations, per the report. Ocasio-Cortez’s “Sandy" nickname — which carries a more suburban and preppy tone — appears to undercut her politically crafted image as a tough, inner-city fighter, one she has portrayed since her famous 2018 congressional campaign where she eventually ousted former 10-terms Congressman Joe Crowley. New York GOP Assemblyman Matt Slater, who now represents Yorktown, added to the scrutiny of Ocasio-Cortez’s persona in the wake of her brash with Trump and released images of Ocasio-Cortez from his high school yearbook. He claimed he and the rising Democratic star attended Yorktown High School at the same time when she was a freshman and he was a senior. "I saw the attacks on the president and her [Ocasio-Cortez] claims that she's a big, tough Bronx girl," said Slater. "To sit there and say that she’s a Bronx girl is just patently ridiculous." "Everybody in our community knows this is just a bold-face lie," said Slater on "Fox & Friends First" last week. "She grew up in Yorktown, she was on my track team." "She's lying about her background, she's lying about her upbringing," Slater claimed. Slater’s post sent social media ablaze and prompted Ocasio-Cortez to respond after an image if her family’s home was posted online. “I’m proud of how I grew up and talk about it all the time," Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X Friday responding to the post. “My mom cleaned houses and I helped. We cleaned tutors’ homes in exchange for SAT prep." “Growing up between the Bronx and Yorktown deeply shaped my views of inequality & it’s a big reason I believe the things I do today!"
The Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, implemented in 1996, mandates that organizations receiving public funding report individuals earning over $100,000. While there have been discussions about adjusting the threshold for inflation, no changes have been made as of yet.
