The 2024 Ontario Sunshine List is officially out! March’s annual window into wages gives Ontario residents a glimpse of just how much public sector employees raked in the previous year.
This is an annual list that discloses salaries for any public service employee who earns over $100,000, first introduced in 1996 by former Premier Mike Harris.
The latest list of top earners dropped the first week of spring 2025, covering salaries earned in 2024.
The top public sector earner of the year was Ken Hartwick, Ontario Power Generation’s President and CEO, who earned $2,010,895.76 of taxpayer money last year. Hartwick has been with the OPG since March 2016, when he was hired as the energy provider’s Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President OPG
While not the highest earners, noteworthy figures include Premier Doug Ford, who took home $208,974 (the same salary he earned the year before), and TVO journalist Steve Paikin, who earns $369,940.88 per year based on the latest sunshine list.
Former Metrolinx President and CEO Phil Verster was a regular entry on Sunshine Lists, though his recent departure from the transit agency has introduced a new big player. Michael Lindsay, who has stepped in for Verster as Metrolinx’s Interim President and CEO, earned $588,848.30 last year.
Notably, six of the top ten highest-paid public sector employees work at Ontario Power Generation.
Here are the top 10 highest-paid employees for 2024:
- Kenneth Hartwick, President and CEO of Ontario Power Generation: $2,010,895.76
- Nicolle Butcher, COO of Ontario Power Generation: $978,380.20
- Steve Gregoris, Chief Nuclear Officer at Ontario Power Generation: $919,310.33
- Phil Verster, former President and CEO of Metrolinx: $883,990.63
- Kevin Smith, President and CEO of University Health Network: $883,097.20
- Ronald Cohn, Presdident and CEO of Hospital for Sick Children: $870,013.40
- Subo Sinnathamby, CPO at Ontario Power Generation: $848,712.56
- Aida Cipolla, CFO at Ontario Power Generation: $835,093.85
- Matthew Anderson, CEO of Ontario Health: $823,200.19
- Jon Franke, senior VP at Ontario Power Generation: $818,174.04
