Province releases annual “sunshine list”

TORONTO, Ont. – The annual sunshine list was released, Friday, and it has grown from just over 71,000 civil servants last year to 80,000 this year.

Public servants who make $100,000 a year or more are included on the list.

This year’s list is based on 2011 salaries, while last year’s list was based on 2010 salaries.

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair and city manager Joe Pennachetti are notables on the list, both pulling in $328,557.60 and $330,386.36, respectively.

The fattest public servant paycheque goes to the CEO of Ontario Power Generation, who is paid $1.8-million a year.

Conservative house leader Jim Wilson told 680News, the fact the list grew to nearly 80-thousand names is proof of what he calls “Ontario’s bloated bureaucracy.”

“It means that the number of public servants on the list has quadrupled since Dalton McGuinty was first elected,” Wilson said.

“It makes a mockery of the Premier’s talk of restraint. It should have gone down instead it has gone up.”

NDP critic Taras Natyshak said he is calling on the premier to do something about CEO salaries.

“It really is unacceptable at a time where the government is calling for fiscal restraint, calling on members of this province to prepare for some deep cuts,” said Natyshak.

The top executives at the scandal-plagued ORNGE Air Ambulance service were not included on the list. ORNGE says it cannot legally release those salaries.

Eighteen people from the Toronto Zoo are also on the list, including the chief operating officer (CEO) and chief financial officer (CFO), who make $196,852.00 and $154,346.37, respectively.

The full list can be found on the Ontario Ministry of Finance website.

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