Since 1997, the Ontario government has released its “sunshine list”, a grotesque list of government workers who earn $100,000 or more per year. That list also includes employees from municipalities, school boards, hospitals, police services, health units, and other organizations under provincial oversight.
The list, when it began, had just over 4,000 people reported. This year’s edition has grown to include over 404,000 employees. The $100,000 benchmark has never been indexed to inflation, so the list of those government workers included continues to expand. No longer are just senior administrative professionals or decision-makers on the list, but most teachers and nurses, many front-line workers, including police officers, and the like. Over 850,000 people work in the non-federal civil service, and now almost half of them are on the Sunshine List.
We call the list grotesque, because that is exactly what this has become. Instead of holding those at the highest levels of power accountable for their salaries, the Sunshine List causes the pointing of fingers at people and outing them simply for being paid to do their jobs.
Had the inflation rate been used to index Sunshine List employees, that number would be $184,128.75 in 2026 and the list would be 30,646 employees long. The arbitrary rate of $100,000 now is equivalent to someone earning $71,000 per year in 1997. In other words, while a $100,000 salary is good, it does not go nearly as far as it did in 1997.
In 1997, the provincial average price for a home was $187,000, while in 2025, that average is $812,000. The average vehicle price in Ontario in 1997 was about $22,000 for a mid-range, mid-sized vehicle. In 2025, that figure was north of $30,000. University tuition in 1997 was about $3,500 for an undergraduate program; in 2025, that amount has more than doubled to $8,700. A salary of $100,000 was considered upper-middle class then; now it is generally considered middle class.
Liz Tuomi, spokesperson for Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney, said that the government will not reconsider updating the $100,000 threshold. Keeping the rate the same, “allows taxpayers to do year-over-year comparisons and makes Ontario’s public sector more transparent and accountable.” Government accountability is important, yes. Should people get to spy on what their friends, relatives, co-workers, police officers, or teachers make? It is a good way of deflecting from your government’s weaknesses, but makes for poor public policy.
As has been written in this newspaper, and many others across the province each year, the Sunshine List needs to be reformed or scrapped altogether. Otherwise, it will remain a useless and divisive tool for taxpayer accountability.
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