Five more in Ontario agriculture join the Sunshine List

Friday, April 4, 2014

by MATT MCINTOSH

The Public Sector Salary Disclosures for 2013 have recently been released, and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food boasts some strong, though comparably small numbers with respect to some other government organizations.

Introduced by the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act in 1996, the annual salary list reveals the yearly net income paid to provincial employees who make $100,000 per year or more. This year, the list reveals that the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food – including Rural Affairs – employs 111 individuals who make at least $100,000, or five more than the 106 people mentioned on the salary disclosure list covering 2012.

Deborah Stark, Ontario’s deputy agriculture Minister, was among the ministry’s top earners, with a paid income of $196,512.

233 individuals from the provincial legislature and its related offices also made it on the most recent salary disclosure list, including Kathleen Wynne, who is both the minister of agriculture and premier; Wynne made a total of $196,512 in 2013.

Wynne and Stark’s salaries, however, were significantly higher than those for most of the other Agriculture and Food/Rural Affairs employees included in the 2014 list; as an average, the other 110 ministry individuals made just under $115,000, which is about $2,500 less than the ministry’s average last year.

The Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, a publicly funded non-profit agricultural research organization, showed some comparatively high salary numbers. Of the 11 employees listed, Jim Brandle, the research centre’s chief executive officer, made almost $283,000 in 2013. The overall average for the other 10 employees was $138,485.

32 people from Agricorp made it to this year’s list, producing an average paid salary of $123,573. The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association also boasted three individuals averaging $112,512. In 2012, Agricorp only had 27 employees making over $100,000, while Ontario Soil and Crop listed two.  

While the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food/Rural Affairs has a stronger personnel showing than some other ministries and government organizations – such as Aboriginal Affairs with 28 people, or the Ministry of Energy with 47 – the number of employees, and the average salary, pales in comparison to some others.

The Ministry of the Attorney General, for instance, boasts over 1,700 names on the salary list, with an average of $164,430. Similarly, the number of Hydro One employees making over $100,000 per year numbers 2,000 with the average salary being $126,663.

According to both CBC and Global news, Tom Mitchell, president and CEO of Ontario Power Generation, was awarded the largest cheque with $1.71 million per year.

The full Public Sector Salary Disclosures for 2013 can be found here. BF