Premier freezes public service manager salaries, orders review of executive pay

Ontario’s new premier has frozen the wages of public service managers and ordered a review of executive and management compensation in his latest effort to curb government spending. A memo posted on the government website Friday — the day Doug Ford was sworn in as premier — says pending pay adjustments for managers, executives and staff not covered by collective bargaining will be on hold “until the new government can put in place an expenditure management strategy.” The documents says merit pay for the current performance cycle will not be affected, however.

Ford had put the public service under a hiring freeze, except for essential front-line staff such as police and corrections officers, and halted discretionary spending such as newspaper subscriptions.

The Progressive Conservative leader campaigned on a promise of fiscal responsibility and vowed to find billions in efficiencies each year without cutting jobs. He has also pledged to launch a line-byline audit of government spending to help eliminate waste.

The Tories said Tuesday the wage freeze would apply until the audit and compensation review are complete.

Under its previous leader, the party had promised to review the salaries of public-sector CEOs and other executives if elected to government.

The newly ousted Liberals had imposed a five-year wage freeze on public sector executives and managers. As it lifted last year, broader public sector agencies were required to post their proposals for new executive compensation packages under a framework that capped salaries at the 50th percentile of “appropriate comparators.”