Electricity prices spur renewed push to have Hydro One $100,000-plus salaries on the ‘sunshine list’

Ontarians trying to pay their bills deserve to know how many workers make the list, MPPs say.

Thestar.com
Feb. 10, 2017
By Rob Ferguson

Ontarians struggling to pay high electricity prices are entitled to know how many Hydro One workers are making more than $100,000 a year, the Progressive Conservatives say.

MPP Todd Smith, his party’s energy critic, renewed a push to have thousands of workers at the partially privatized utility put on the “sunshine list” of public sector workers earning six figures.

“The government is still the majority shareholder,” Smith, his party’s energy critic, told a news conference Friday, noting the province still owns a 70 per cent stake in the company.

“Kathleen Wynne and the Liberal government have the right to say ... it should be made public,” he added, referring to the salary information.

As it now stands, Hydro One, like other publicly traded companies, is legally required to reveal the compensation packages of only its top five executives - one of whom, chief executive, Mayo Schmidt, earns $4 million, Smith said.

He and New Democrat MPP Catherine Fife said the disclosure does not go far enough given that the last time Hydro One was required to report salaries more than 4,300 employees at the parent company and subsidiaries were on the sunshine list.

“Before Kathleen Wynne hid Hydro One salaries the CEO was making $745,208,” Smith said. “How much are the rest of the staff receiving?”

Premier Kathleen Wynne brushed aside the concerns, but did not acknowledge the salary disclosure rules are now much less stringent for Hydro One.

“Once a year they have to disclose all that information to their shareholders,” Wynne told reporters in Brantford.

“So that’s been in place for some time and it’s in place for all publicly traded companies.”

Hydro One did not comment on the sunshine list demand and said it’s “good governance” for publicly traded companies to disclose details of executive compensation.

Wynne charged the Conservative plan to introduce a private members’ bill that would require a more full salary disclosure at Hydro One was an attempt to distract from Statistics Canada figures that 28,800 new jobs were created in the province last month.

Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid hailed that number as “fabulous” but the opposition parties noted that 82 per cent of those new jobs were part-time and that the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.4 per cent.

“Duguid’s bragging is unfounded,” said Fife, citing a “dramatic” increase in part-time work. “Too many people have lost good jobs and are working in part-time jobs.”

The unemployment rate in Ontario has been below the national average for 22 months and is near its lowest point in eight years.

Wynne has promised more relief on hydro rates before the government’s spring budget. The 8 per cent HST on electricity bills has been rebated since January 1.

Her government is half-way through its plan to sell a 60 per cent stake in Hydro One, raising an estimated $9 billion for electricity debt reduction and improved public transit.

A spokesman for Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault said any further share sales depend on market conditions. Hydro One shares closed at $23.55 Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange, down 50 cents. They have traded at a high of $26.80 in the last 52 weeks.