Recently a Canadian Press story claimed the NDP planned on saving $80 million by capping the salaries of hospital CEOs at $418,000.
Clearly CP got it wrong.
The math appeared to way off given there are only 152 hospital CEOs in Ontario. That means the average salary would have to be in excess of $944,000 each to produce a savings of that magnitude.
There are some big earners out there, such as Dr. Robert Bell, chief executive of the University Health Network, whose salary was $753,992 in 2010. But nearly a million bucks each? No way.
The Ontario Hospital Association was evidently miffed by the CP report and issued their own press release clarifying the situation.
According to the OHA, if implemented, the NDP policy would save approximately $3.7 million annually at the hospitals. After requesting a correction, subsequent versions of the CP story stated that the NDP “plans to find the money by capping the salaries of public sector executives – including hospital CEOs at $418,000” – which they say will free up about $20 million a year, or $80 million over four years.
According to the OHA, 33 of Ontario’s 152 hospital CEOs make more than the proposed cap (including benefits). Based on the 2010 Sunshine List, 77 of the 207,000 people employed in hospitals, including CEOs, senior management, physician employees and other clinical staff reported a remuneration level (including benefits) higher than the proposed NDP cap of $418,000.00 for CEOs.
OPSEU Diablogue 