Here are the top public sector earners in Waterloo Region and Guelph

Grand River Hospital in Kitchener is seen on June 8, 2022. (Alison Sandstrom/CTV Kitchener)

The highest paid public sector employees in Waterloo Region and Guelph work in healthcare administration and post-secondary education, according to Ontario’s 2023 sunshine list.

Released Thursday, the annual list names public sector workers with salaries surpassing $100,000.

The top earner on this year's list was Ontario Power Generation President (OPG) and CEO Ken Hartwick, with a salary of more than $1.9 million.

In total, all five of the highest earners in Ontario’s public sector in 2023 were executives employed by OPG.

Here’s a look at the highest-paid public sector employees in Waterloo Region and Guelph:

1. Grand River Hospital President and CEO Ronald Gagnon – $585,695 salary and $2,562 in taxable benefits
2. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics Director Robert Myers – $573,501 salary and $1,198 in taxable benefits
3. Conestoga College President John Tibbits – $494,716 salary and $2,920 in taxable benefits
4. University of Waterloo President Vivek Goel – $494,223 salary and $2,476 in taxable benefits
5. University of Guelph President and Vice-Chancellor Charlotte Yates – $423,648 salary and $14,119 in taxable benefits
6. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics faculty Paul Smith – $404,923 salary and $2,026 in taxable benefits
7. University of Waterloo professor Kenneth Klassen – $382,255 salary and $933 in taxable benefits
8. Communitech President and CEO Christopher Albinson – $380,000 salary and $562 in taxable benefits
9. Conestoga College Senior Vice President of Academic Student Affairs, Human Resources, Research, and Information Technology Barbara Kelly – $377,556 salary, no taxable benefits
10. Grand River Hospital Executive Vice President of Patient Care Services Bonnie Camm – $373,121 salary and $1,767 in taxable benefits.

Is $100,000 too low a threshold for the sunshine list?

This year, a total of 300,570 employees made the Ontario sunshine list, up from 266,948 in 2022 and nearly double the number of names on the 2018 list.

The list was first launched in 1996 as part of legislation meant to encourage transparency in Ontario spending.

The threshold has not changed since then, despite inflation and a generally higher cost of living.

If inflation is taken into account, $100,000 from 1996 would equate about $180,000 in 2024.

Government House Leader Paul Calandra, however, said there is no plan to change this threshold while speaking with reporters at Queen’s Park on Thursday.

“I think that it’s an important document that serves the people well in highlighting the salaries of public employees.”

The province’s official opposition agreed, saying that $100,000 is still a lot of money in an affordability crisis.

The Ontario government must release the sunshine list by March 31 every year under the legislation.

With files from CTV Toronto