Ontario’s 2023 Sunshine List has been published.
The province's Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act requires any public servant salary at or above $100,000 to be declared and published yearly.
At the City of Barrie, chief administrative officer Michael Prowse had the top salary last year at $311,248.35.
Georgian College president and chief executive officer Kevin Weaver had a salary of $300,810.52 last year.
Former Barrie police chief Kimberley Greenwood earned $289,473.60 in 2023, while current police chief Richard Johnston earned $274,818.88.
At Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre, RVH president and CEO Gail Hunt had a 2023 salary of $510,828, followed by executive vice-president Nancy Savage at $387,003, executive vice-president Bentley Peterson at $350,602, Dave Brewin, vice-president, at $289,500, and Rachel Keane, vice-president, at $268,215.
At Collingwood General and Marine Hospital, the president and CEO Michael Lacroix's salary is listed at $263,798.
Dr. Charles Gardner, the medical officer of health for the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, earned $316,546 in 2023.
The CAO of Simcoe County, Mark Aitken, earned $303,883 last year. He is the highest paid among 378 County of Simcoe employees on the 2023 list. Aitken is followed by health and emergency services general manager Jane Sinclair at $241,460.
There are 1,805 Simcoe County District School Board employees on the 2023 Sunshine List, which is down from the 1,915 on last year’s list. Director of education John Dance tops the list at the public board with $276,600.13.
There are 875 employees at the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board on the list. Topping the list is director of education Frances Bagley, who earned $249,789.85 in 2023.
Since the Sunshine List was established in 1996, the threshold for disclosure (salaries of $100,000) has not changed. According to the government of Ontario website used for Sunshine List disclosure, the Canadian Consumer Price Index has increased by 54 per cent between 1996 and 2020.
According to the Bank of Canada’s inflation calculator, $100,000 in salary in 1996 when the sunshine list was launched is equivalent to about $180,249 in 2023.
There were 4,494 people on the Sunshine List when it was released in 1996. Today, there are 300,750 public service employees listed.
The Town of Collingwood released its disclosure list ahead of the province publishing the full list.
In 2023, 63 Town of Collingwood employees made it onto the Ontario Sunshine List, an increase from the 61 that made the list in 2022.
At the top of the list again this year was the chief administrative officer, Sonya Skinner, with a salary of $241,245.54 and taxable benefits of $9,454.65. That's a little lower than her 2022 salary of $244,992 plus taxable benefits of $9,617.
The next highest earner at town hall was Amanda Pegg, executive director of customer and corporate services, whose salary is listed at $190,647.87 with taxable benefits at $1,484.38. Following Pegg is Collingwood Fire Chief Dan Thurman, whose salary is listed at $162,147.40 with taxable benefits at $5,357.73.
The town clerk, Sara Almas made $160, 174.25 last year with $796.55 in taxable benefits.
Rounding out the top-five earners with the town in 2023 was Dean Collver, director of parks, recreation and culture, whose salary was the same as the clerk's at $160,147.25 with $795.55 in taxable benefits.
For more from the Collingwood list, click here.
Check out the full Sunshine List for 2023 by clicking here.
