WHO MADE WHAT?
Payee report released
Saskatchewan’s Crown corporations have released their annual payee disclosure report — basically, a list of who gets paid what in the Crowns as wages, fees and sponsorships.
This list covers employees who received more than $50,000 in compensation, suppliers that got more than $50,000 for goods and services, and a combined category of grants, contributions, donations and sponsorships. Travel expenses are listed separately.
At the Big Four Crown corporations, SaskTel’s veteran CEO, Ron Styles, took home $619,189 while his counterpart at SaskEnergy, Doug Kelln, got $459,184.
At SGI, CEO Andrew Cartmell drew $490,582, while Mike Marsh, who became SaskPower’s CEO midway through the year, got $434,189.
Mike Monea, SaskPower executive in charge of the controversial Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project, received $355,504 plus travel expenses of $41,336, reflecting his work in telling other firms and organizations about CCS.
The CEOs of smaller Crown corporations are also listed. At Crown Investments Corp., which oversees Saskatchewan’s commercial Crowns, CEO Blair Swystun, who came to this post partway through the year after succeeding Dick Carter, got $441,705.
At the Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation, another Crown that saw management changes through retirement and promotion, former CEO Twyla Meredith earned $124,114 in 2015 while interim CEO Blaine Pilatzke got $194,470. Meredith’s eventual replacement, Susan Flett, received $207,628.
Van Isman, CEO of the Saskatchewan Opportunities Corp., which operates under the name “Innovation Places” and oversees development and operations at research parks at the universities of Regina and Saskatchewan, plus the Forest Centre in Prince Albert, earned $246,248.
Over at SaskWater, which supplies water to a number of communities in the province, CEO Doug Matthies got $262,902, while Shawn Grice, his counterpart at STC, the province’s intercity bus company, earned $232,586 in 2015.
Because of recent accounting changes altering the fiscal year end of Saskatchewan Crown corporations to March 31, two lists were released Monday: one covering payments made during the 12 months ending Dec. 31, 2015, and another covering a reporting period that runs from April 1, 2015, until March 31, 2016.
In the sponsorship category, one of the big winners — financially, if not on the field — was the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ football club, which received $67,200 from SaskPower, $210,000 from SaskTel, $60,000 from SaskTel subsidiary Direct West and $73,153 from SaskGaming. SaskTel also paid $36,000 in sponsorships to the Saskatchewan Rush lacrosse club, which sold out every game in Saskatoon’s SaskTel Centre.
Other Crown corporations were the very model of modesty in sponsorships and grants. SOCO, for example, gave $38,000 for scholarships and summer camps for gifted students. STC’s sole grant over $5,000 went to the Red Cross.