The average salary grew modestly at Canada’s top securities regulator last year, according to the latest public sector salary disclosure issued Friday.
Ontario’s annual “sunshine list”, which reports the compensation of public sector employees earning at least $100,000, shows that 278 employees at the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) topped that mark, earning a combined $47.8 million in 2013. This is up from last year when 268 employees were on the list, with a combined salary of just under $46 million.
The average salary of those included in the disclosure rose slightly to just over $172,000 from $171,546 last year. And, the commission’s top paid employee, chair and CEO, Howard Wetston, saw his pay remain flat at just over $715,000.
Vice chair, Larry Ritchie, who has been seconded to the Canadian Securities Transition Office (CSTO), ranks second at just over $540,000, and the other vice chairs, Jim Turner and Mary Condon, still come in under the $500,000 mark.
Over at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO), there are 72 employees on the list this year, with combined salaries of $9.3 million. FSCO’s superintendent, Phillip Howell, is its top paid employee, earning just over $245,000 per year.
The Ontario Ministry of Finance reports that the average salary on this year’s sunshine list was $127,433, down from $127,576 in 2012. It also notes that the $100,000 threshold has remained the same since the disclosure policy was introduced in 1996. If the threshold had kept up with inflation, the cut-off would now be $141,705.