Colleges’ executive pay proposals ‘unacceptable,’ deputy premier says
Deputy premier Deb Matthews is sending the province’s colleges back to the drawing board after rejecting their proposed executive pay hikes as “unacceptable.”
Some college presidents could have seen raises of more than 50 per cent — as much as $170,000 in some cases — after the province’s Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act lifted a sevenyear salary freeze.
The act lets colleges compare their executive pay to that of other organizations to set an upper limit on senior executive salaries. In some cases, the college president’s job was compared to the CEOs of Toronto’s Pearson airport, the LCBO and major health centres like The Ottawa Hospital.
In a statement Thursday, Matthews, who is also Ontario’s minister of advanced education and skills development, rejected many of the comparisons and ordered the college boards of governors to redo their proposals.
“In short, it’s clear the proposed compensation plans need to change,” she tweeted.
While the province realizes college executives need a raise, Matthews said, “at the same time, the people of Ontario have a right to know how their dollars are being spent and deserve a clear rationale for why executives are paid what they are paid.”
Algonquin College proposed raising the top salary for its president to $445,000. That’s 38 per cent more than the $321,165 that current Algonquin president Cheryl Jensen is paid.
Algonquin’s director of communication Scott Anderson said this week the higher figure represents a maximum level that gives the board “room to move” in future negotiations, not an actual salary. Big raises are “just not in the cards,” Anderson said.
Algonquin originally proposed a maximum president’s salary of $494,000, but lowered it after criticism for using inappropriate comparators, including Pearson airport and the LCBO.
Algonquin dropped four comparators and added four other colleges instead.
Last week, Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 415, which represents Algonquin College faculty, called the initial proposed executive raises “mindboggling.”