The Canadian Press
Allison Jones
TORONTO–Ontario colleges have been ordered to come up with new salary proposals for their presidents and other executives after some institutions proposed pay hikes of 50 percent.
The memo from the Liberal government comes at the same time a report says Ontario’s 24 public colleges face a cumulative debt of $1.9 billion over 10 years in an age of declining enrolment.
A public-sector wage freeze is expiring, and colleges are posting their executive compensation proposals under new rules that came into force in September.
The new legislation–introduced after years of complaints over generous salaries and severance packages for executives in the public sector–created new compensation frameworks that cap salary and performance-related payments, as well as prohibit signing bonuses, retention bonuses, and cash housing allowances.
But Advanced Education minister Deb Matthews said yesterday that the proposals are “concerning,” particularly those that don’t compare salaries to other colleges or organizations of a similar size.
“I’m saying to the colleges: ‘What you’ve presented so far doesn’t meet the test,'” Matthews said.
“I’m not going to do your job for you,” she added. “Go back, you know your sector best, you know your communities best, come back with a framework that actually does meet the letter of and the spirit of the legislation.”
Some colleges have been using universities and hospitals as comparators.
Colleges Ontario president Linda Franklin said she doesn’t necessarily agree that those are unfair comparisons.
“I do think that these colleges have become very complex, very challenging organizations, and the presidents have a great deal of decision-making authority,” she noted.
But Franklin conceded the colleges could do a better job of communicating both that the proposals were only one step in a process, and that there were ranges.
“I think people were looking at the ranges and thinking, ‘Oh my god, salaries are going up $100,000’ and, of course, all the colleges were doing was establishing a range that could last for many years,” she explained.
Documents posted by Mohawk College in Hamilton show it proposed to raise the president’s salary from $260,208 to up to $401,000.
Algonquin College in Ottawa proposed to boost the president’s salary from $321,165 to up to $445,000.
Public-sector salaries are a thorny issue, Matthews acknowledged.
“The numbers look too high and I get that,” she remarked. “So that’s why we’ve said, ‘You have to justify it. You have to explain to people why you’re paying what you’re paying.'”
The colleges are the first out with proposals under the new framework, so Matthews said hospitals and universities will be watching developments with interest.
