Last week, the Ontario government released the 2021 Sunshine List – the province’s listing of public sector employees who made over $100,000 last year.
As you will read in this week’s paper, a number of local public sector employees were named on the list, which can be read in its entirety online at Ontario.ca.
In total, 244,390 people are on the list this year, nearly 39,000 more than the previous year.
The list was introduced by the Conservative government, led by Mike Harris, in 1996. The purpose of the list – to provide accountability and transparency.
On paper, it’s a great idea. In reality, it just angers me (and many others, I’m sure).
As a journalist, I believe in transparency and accountability. I believe that, as taxpayers, we deserve to know how much money those working for (publicly funded) organizations and agencies are paid – no different than an investor should know the expenses of wages in a business they are a partowner of.
Seeing that there are 244,390 people on the list in 2021 is outrageous. Even more outrageous is that the list increased 18.9 per cent from 2020.
And even more outrageous than that is that the list has grown 5,438 per cent since 1996, when 4,494 people made more than $100,000.
Don’t get me wrong, $100,000 is still a lot of money, However, $100,000 today is worth less than $100,000 was in 1996. Using the Bank of Canada’s inflation calculator, $100,000 in 1996 would be the equivalent of $166,629 in 2022.
Yet here we are in 2022, where many sectors are under-funded, according to whichever union or group you listen to.
There are also those on the list who are, without a doubt, very hard workers and deserving of the money they earned. Anyone who, in the last two years, says that a nurse who made over $100,000 working double shifts and overtime doesn’t deserve their earnings needs to rethink their opinion.
When you look at the Sunshine List, who makes up a large portion of those making more than $100,000?
Teachers, school board administrators, hospital and public health administration, or anyone who works in the public sector with the title of president, vice-president, CEO, COO, CIO, etc.
These are public sector employees who, in addition to receiving great benefits and retirement packages, are also making far more than the average Joe.
In addition to the anger I feel knowing that 244,390 people in this province make a boatload of money each year, I get mixed feelings about knowing what friends and acquaintances are paid.
And in a small town, such as Wingham, it’s not uncommon to know the names on the list.
Every year around this time, I will receive messages from a number of friends who ask me not to look at the Sunshine List.
My response, every time, is, “I know what you earned last year.”
Looking at this year’s list, I found names of people I went to college with, grew up with, parents of my kids’ friends, and many names of people I’ve come across in my professional life. Some of these people are like the aforementioned – they work hard, work long hours, and deserve every penny they earned.
And some are simply paid what they are paid because of the title after their name.
It’s time that we rethink what the Sunshine List represents. It has merely become an Excel spreadsheet we look at to find out what our friends or political leaders earned. By no means is it holding anyone accountable – if it were, there wouldn’t have been an increase of 39,000 to the Earn More Than $100K Club last year during a pandemic.
In 1996, the Sunshine List made sense. Now, it has become a badge of honour.
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Mike Wilson is the editor of Midwestern Newspapers. Comments and feedback are welcome at mwilson@midwesternnewspapers.com.
