MORRISBURG – The province’s annual Sunshine List grew by nearly 23 per cent in the past year.
In South Dundas, municipal administration reported the list nearly tripled.
The list reports the annual salary for all provincial, municipal, school board, and Crown agency employees who earn over $100K per year. South Dundas’ contribution to the list increased from three to eight people.
Leading the local municipal list, former-Chief Administrative Officer Tim Mills was the top-earning employee. His salary in 2024 was $166,663.38, the second highest of all lower-tier CAOs within SDG Counties. Mills left South Dundas to become the CAO for the City of Cornwall.
South Dundas’ eight reported is the highest number ever since the Sunshine List began in 1997. The previous record was five employees.
South Stormont continued to lead the counties in largest number of employees on the list at nine. CAO Debi Lucas’ $167,931.46 salary plus taxable benefits led all lower-tier CAOs.
North Dundas’ reporting decreased from 2023, from seven to six employees. Director of Planning and then Interim CAO Calvin Pol was the top earning staffer, earning $135,121.57 plus taxable benefits.
South Glengarry CAO Douglas Robertson earned $164,281.17 plus benefits. Eight employees with that township were on the Sunshine List. North Glengarry CAO Sarah Huskinson led a group of six on the list. She earned $164,425.89 in 2024. North Stormont’s group increased their mark on the sunshine list to four employees. CAO Craig Calder led the employees at $131,078.55 in 2024.
SDG Counties CAO Maureen Adams’ salary of $213,116.75 in 2024 was the highest of 15 Counties staff on the Sunshine List. Former Cornwall CAO Mathieu Fleury earned $253,038.67 in the first 10 months of 2024.
Local Crown agency, the St. Lawrence Parks Commission, saw its ranks on the Sunshine List grow from 13 in 2023 to 20 in 2024. General Manager and CEO Hollie Kew earned $263,894.03, a 39 per cent increase from 2023.
Many professions within the public service including education and health care saw labour contract wage increases that pushed more employees on to the Sunshine List. This year’s list grew by nearly 23 per cent to 377,666 people across the province. The first Sunshine List reported in 1997 had 4,250 employees in Ontario.
In the region, Cornwall Community Hospital CEO Jeanette Despatie remains the highest-paid health care executive. In 2024, she earned $385,216.93, unchanged from 2023. The CCH reported 313 employees on the List, of which 149 were nurses.
Eastern Ontario Health Unit Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis earned $373,871.65, an increase of 3.3 per cent from 2023. The EOHU reported 21 employees on the List including Roumeliotis.
Winchester District Memorial Hospital, Dundas Manor, and Rural Healthcare Innovations CEO Charles “Cholly” Boland earned $322,256.81 in 2024; a 5.7 per cent increase from 2023. WDMH reported 49 employees on this year’s Sunshine List, of which 36 were nurses.
Education saw considerable increases in the number of employees reported on the Sunshine List, including in this region.
The Upper Canada District School Board listed 1,578 employees on the list, of those 1,362 were teachers. There were 95 principals, 33 vice-principals, 80 administration or consultant positions, six superintendents, and two executive superintendents listed on the List. Director of Education Ron Ferguson was the highest paid employee at the board, earning $285,258.50 – a decrease of 17.6 per cent from 2023.
More than half of the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario’s employees were on the Sunshine List in 2024. In all, 798 employees earned over the benchmark $100,000 per year plus taxable benefits. This included 689 teachers, 43 principals, 23 vice principals, 37 administrative or consulting positions, five superintendents, and Director of Education Laurie Corrigan. Corrigan earned $257,000.12 in 2024, a decrease of 5.45 per cent.
French-Catholic board, Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien, reported 678 employees on the list. Of those, 558 are teachers, 33 are principals, 22 vice principals, 60 administration or consultant positions, five superintendents, and Director of Education Lyne Racine. She earned $284,379.81 in 2024, an increase of 3.5 per cent from the year before.
French-Public board, Conseil Des Écoles Publiques De L’est De L’ontario, reported 968 employees on the list. In addition to Director of Education Christian-Charle Bouchard earning $263,028.81 (up 30 per cent), there were 695 teachers, 166 administration or consultant positions, 49 principals, 52 vice principals, and six superintendents on the list.
“Compensation in sectors that saw the largest year-over-year increases can be attributed to across-the-board salary adjustments, retroactive payments made in the 2024 calendar year and the most recent collective bargaining outcomes,” said Caroline Mulroney, president of the Treasury Board. “Nearly half of the growth on the list was driven by the school board sector, with teachers contributing to 87 per cent of this increase.”
Mulroney earned $166,414.50 on the list in 2024. Premier Doug Ford was the top-paid MPP at Queen’s Park, earning $209,680.38 in 2024. Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry MPP Nolan Quinn, who was promoted from parliamentary assistant to Minister of Colleges and Universities in August 2024, earned $147,126.12.
The Sunshine List was mandated by legislation in 1996 and first published in 1997. The list’s $100,000 threshold has never been updated or indexed to the yearly inflation rate.
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