Hospital CEO pay has hit new records as executives thumb their nose at taxpayers and brush off appeals from government for moderation, according to official figures disclosed today by Queen's Park.
“CEOs are helping themselves to tax dollars at the expense of patients and over-stretched frontline staff," said nurse Carol McDowell, a Registered Practical Nurse from Niagara Falls.
The so-called sunshine list of public sector salaries showed hospital CEOs in Ontario continue to pocket massive bonuses despite a growing public outcry.
"These CEOs are out of touch and need to be reined in. We need to cap CEO pay," said Ms McDowell, who is president of the Nursing Division of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
The disclosures show Humber River Regional Hospital CEO Rueben Devlin enjoyed a 10% pay increase at a time when hospital budgets are growing by less than 2%. At St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, CEO Robert Howard enjoyed a 14% jump in compensation.
Sunnybrook Hospital CEO Barry McLellan saw his compensation package jump by 18% over two years to $693,000. Together, the executive team at Sunnybrook walked away with $3.2 million in one year alone - enough to pay for over 219,000 hours of patient care.
In Windsor, hospital CEO Warren Chant grabbed a 35% hike in his compensation, shortly before being fired for running a dysfunctional management operation.
The figures also showed there is a new hospital executive at the top of the pay rankings in Ontario, with the CEO of St. Joseph's Hospital in London, Clifford Nordal, siphoning off $833,000 in tax dollars.
The disclosures show hospital executives have ignored appeals from the Government of Ontario, which has taken a patient approach and urged hospital boards and executives to act voluntarily, while tinkering with office budgets.
"As a nurse, I cannot stand by and watch these CEOs siphon off millions in tax dollars that should be going to frontline care," said Nurse McDowell.
"The time for patience is over, we need to cap hospital CEO pay now."