TORONTO -- Ontario Power Generation says its CEO will be paid a maximum of $1.9 million, but the Crown corporation is not changing the proposed $3.8-million compensation cap the premier had asked to be revised.
In a letter to the government, OPG says its board "took great care" in arriving at the $3.8-million cap, but has voluntarily set the maximum compensation for the CEO at $1,937,500 -- with the target at $1.5 million.
That comes as Ontario's so-called sunshine list of public-sector employees earning over $100,000 a year is set to be released today, with the head of OPG likely to top the list.
The letter from OPG board chair Bernard Lord says focusing on the regulated $3.8-million cap may lead to confusion and misunderstanding of the role of the caps and suggests less attention be paid to such numbers.
Instead, Lord writes that the focus should be on OPG's executive compensation program, which puts much more weight on performance bonuses than base salary, and will see executives earn far less than the regulatory caps.
All broader public-sector agencies have until September to post their proposals for new executive compensation packages under a framework that caps salaries at the 50th percentile of "appropriate comparators."
The Liberal government sent colleges back to the drawing board after concerns were raised about the comparators that they were using for proposals that would boost presidents' salaries by up to 50 per cent. Then after public outcry over the OPG salaries and a proposed raise of up to $118,000 for the head of transit agency Metrolinx, told all broader public sector organizations it expected increases to be "modest."
The current salary of the power agency's CEO is $1.5 million.
The power agency, which operates two nuclear sites and is responsible for more than $40 billion in assets, was granted permission by the government to use private-sector comparators because of its unique size and scope.
Meanwhile, the $4.5 million in pay received by Hydro One's CEO will not be on the sunshine list, even though the province owns 70 per cent of it. The government intends to sell up to 60 per cent.
As soon as the initial shares were sold, Hydro One instead became a private company and only has to disclose the salaries of its CEO, CFO and next three highest-paid executives.
New filings show that CEO Mayo Schmidt was paid $4.5 million in 2016 -- an $850,000 salary plus bonuses -- and those top five executives were paid a total of about $11.7 million.
The previous sunshine list showed 115,431 people were earning more than $100,000 -- an increase of nearly 4,000 people despite the fact 3,774 Hydro One workers were not on the list for the first time.
