Canada’s highest-paid CEOs make $13.2 million on average

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Check your watch. By 10:54 this morning, the 100 highest-paid chief executives in Canada will have already made $62,661 — the same amount an average Canadian would take all year to earn.

The numbers come from the annual report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, which has been tracking CEO pay since 2007.

Their report out today says these 100 executives took home $13.2 million on average in 2023, the third largest haul since tracking began.

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That’s 210 times more than the average worker’s wage, a gap that has swelled from 150 times in 2009.

It might sound high, but it’s not an all-time high. 2023’s figures follow two record-breaking years for executive compensation. In 2021 and 2022 the pay of the 100 highest-paid CEOs spiked above $14 million for the first time in Canada, said the report. Corporate Canada also enjoyed higher profits in these years.

“Apart from the pandemic recovery years, 2023 marked the highest CEO pay Canada has ever seen,” wrote David Macdonald, author of the report.

In 2023, when the minimum wage in Ontario was $16.55, the minimum wage of the highest paid executives was $3,255 an hour.

Patrick Dovigi of GFL Environmental Inc. tops the list of Canadian CEOs, taking home a salary of $2,110,299, share-based rewards of $36,436,161 and non-equity incentive plan compensation of $7,801,774.

Joshua Kobza, of Tim Hortons’ parent Restaurant Brands International Inc., ranked second with a total of $39.1 million, and R.M. Kruger of Suncor Energy Inc. came third at $36.8 million.

The average salary for the 100 highest-paid CEOs was $1.3 million in 2023, but bonuses, which now make up four-fifths of an executive’s pay, is where the real money is.

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“It’s the bonus categories of cash, stock options and share awards that are doing the heavy lifting,” said Macdonald.

The largest category is share awards, which made up 49 per cent of CEO pay packages in 2023. CEOs are paid in shares and in 2023, half of the richest CEOs held more than $10 million in stock in their company.

Salaries have become increasingly irrelevant and for the past three years have represented less than 10 per cent of the average CEO’s pay, the report said.

Tobias Lütke, CEO of Shopify Inc and Canada’s fifth highest earner, for example, had a salary of $1 in 2023, but his option-based rewards amounted to $26,994,009.

Only three women made the top 100: Linda Hasenfratz, CEO of Linamar Corp, Tracy Robinson, head of Canadian National Railway and Nancy Southern, CEO of Atco Ltd.

“There have only ever been between three and four women on our list, depending on the year. The top corporate job has always been and remains an old boys’ club 97 per cent of the time,” said Macdonald.

In fact, men on the list named Scott (5) and Michael (4) outnumber the total number of women.

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Ottawa isn’t the only one with a bigger deficit than planned this fiscal year. Seven out of 10 provinces are facing a weaker fiscal balance than was expected in the spring, said Robert Kavcic, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Manitoba’s deficit, for example, has widened to 1.3 billion from $796 million in the budget, he said.

The combined provincial deficit for the coming year, estimated at $22.9 billion, is actually lower than the $27.9 billion forecast in the spring. That’s thanks to a surplus in Alberta and upward revision in Ontario.

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Today’s Posthaste was written by Pamela Heaven, with additional reporting from Financial Post staff, The Canadian Press and Bloomberg.

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