Public-sector pay of the province’s executives frozen
The provincial government has frozen the salaries of executives at hospitals, universities, school boards and other agencies as it reviews how raises are granted to top earners across Ontario’s public sector.
In a directive issued to publicsector agencies this week, Treasury Board president Peter Bethlenfalvy said all base salaries for executives cannot increase beyond their current amounts as the government conducts a compensation review that is expected to wrap up next June.
The directive, which affects those who make $100,000 or more at public-sector organizations, has sowed confusion. Some agencies in Windsor and Essex County who expected to be affected have not received it. Those who have are unclear about what positions are included.
David Musyj, president and chief executive officer of Windsor Regional Hospital, said it appears the wage freeze applies only to himself and the hospital’s vice-presidents — eight people in total.
“I’m not 100 per cent, but that’s the way it reads,” Musyj said. But at the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board, director of education Terry Lyons is reading the directive to mean it applies to all managers making more than $100,000 a year.
“We need to have that clarified,” Lyons said. It could apply to only Lyons and eight superintendents, or a much wider group that includes all school principals, he said.
According to a plan approved by the former provincial government in February, the hospital’s administrators would have all been in line for raises this year. The hospital’s board opted not to give the increases, said Musyj, who was Windsor and Essex County’s top public-sector earner in 2017, making in excess of $444,000. At the Catholic school board, administrators got a five per cent salary increase last year after being frozen since 2012, Lyons said. “We were supposed to get another bump in September.” Lyons said freezing administrative salaries is a “difficult notion” because many teachers make more than $100,000 a year.
“You want to attract the right people to management positions,” he said, but it becomes difficult when the wage gap between teachers and administrators narrows. “None of us got into this business of education for the money, but we want to be fairly compensated.” Lyons, who became director of education after the October retirement of predecessor Paul Picard, made more than $187,000 in 2017. Picard made more than $224,000. Cathy Abraham, the president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, said executive compensation was frozen under the previous Liberal government for eight years and was only recently lifted.
The new freeze could hurt the ability of boards across the province to retain and attract qualified leaders, she said, adding that school board executives oversee complex operations that involve large numbers of students, employees and properties.
“It’s a difficult job,” she said. “We believe if we’re not compensating folks fairly for the work they ’re doing we’re going to have a hard time getting people to want to do the job and keeping them in the job.” Vincenza Mihalo, Windsor’s executive director of human resources, said the city has not received the directive.
“It may not include municipalities. We have not been given any information or notice, but it is something we’re looking into.” The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit has not received the directive either.
“We’ve only seen the reports in the media,” said spokesman Ramsey D’Souza. Asked if the directive will apply to the health unit, he said, “We have nothing to date.”
The University of Windsor has been “informed” of the province’s directive, said spokesman John Coleman.
“I’m not sure we’ve seen all the details.… It’s really early in the process here. Everyone needs a closer look and get details.”
The Ontario Hospital Association said it wants to engage in talks with the government on its compensation review to ensure any framework reached is “responsible and equitable.”
“In addition to the most recent announcement, there have been ten substantive changes to executive compensation in hospitals since 2010,” the OHA statement says. “It is confusing and untenable to continue in this manner.” Ontario Power Generation, whose executives are also affected, said it was examining the directive from the Treasury Board and would take part in the compensation review.
The Treasury Board’s president said the measure is part of a larger government plan to “clean up Ontario’s fiscal house.”
“This will require some long overdue fiscal discipline and spending restraint, and everyone will need to contribute,” Bethlenfalvy said in a statement. “Controlling the growth in executive compensation is an important step in this effort.”
Premier Doug Ford, who took power at the end of June, has pledged to find $6 billion in “efficiencies” for the province. His government has created an independent commission of inquiry and ordered an audit of government books to assess the province’s financial position.
The directive on executive pay comes after the Tories froze wages of managers in government ministries and ordered a review of their compensation earlier this summer. Bethlenfalvy said the government is committed to addressing Ontario’s debt and deficit, adding that the province pays nearly a billion dollars per month in interest on money it has borrowed. “There’s nothing more important than restoring trust and accountability in how taxpayers’ money is spent,” he said.
None of us got into this business of education for the money, but we want to be fairly compensated.