PETERBOROUGH, Ont. - Top executives at government agencies, boards and commissions should consider doing their part to keep costs down as Ontario fights its record $21.3-billion deficit, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday.
"What we're focused on right now is this notion that we're all in this together," McGuinty said after an event in Peterborough, Ont.
Elected officials are freezing their pay for three years and the government has asked everyone in the public sector to do the same for two, he noted.
"I think those who enjoy the privilege of serving Ontarians in an executive capacity -- whether you're heading up a hydro company or a hospital or one of variety of agencies, boards and commissions -- I think you've got to take into account what's happened to the economy," McGuinty said.
"Those of us that are privileged to be paid by taxpayers have to come to the table with something."
The province has already talked about tying hospital CEOs' salaries to their performance and plans to introduce legislation to that effect as early as this spring.
While no such move is in the works for the province's more than 600 agencies, boards and commissions, it was the first time McGuinty indicated he was open to expanding that concept to the group.
"At some point in time we'll be talking about senior executive salaries, something that goes beyond hospitals," McGuinty said.
The government used last month's budget to announce an immediate freeze on non-unionized workers and managers in the public sector. It will also cap compensation packages for unionized public sector workers for two years after their current contracts expire.
It hopes to save about $750 million by freezing the salaries of more than one million workers, although the opposition parties said there are too many loopholes in the wage freeze, especially for senior managers who get performance pay.
McGuinty has also asked municipalities, police and firefighters to consider wage freezes after projecting $110 billion in deficit spending over eight years.
The opposition has long criticized the salaries of hospital CEOs, compensation that Health Minister Deb Matthews has admitted people in her hometown of London think is too high. But the Liberals are also quick to point out that it wasn't the province that set salaries at hospitals but local hospital boards of directors.
Public salary disclosures last week showed that several hospital bosses made more than $800,000 at a time when hospitals are closing beds and laying off nurses to balance their budgets.
NDP critic Peter Kormos said Tuesday that imposing any type of cap on executive salaries will do little to help the average Ontario resident.
"Telling people earning bloated salaries... to tighten their belts because they're going to freeze their salary doesn't carry a lot of weight," said Kormos.
"It's an insult to the hard-working people whose salaries have been completely cut because they've lost their jobs."
McGuinty said his comments didn't stem from any of the disclosures in the sunshine list -- the annual release of Ontario public sector workers making more than $100,000 annually.
He also warned against getting caught up in "some visceral backlash because there are some people in executive positions who are enjoying a compensation level that is much higher than the average Ontarian."
"It is not my intention to pay anything less than is fair," he said.
"If you want capable people who are prepared to work long and hard and to lend direction to sophisticated public sector organizations, that requires significant payment."
