Average Paycheque Of Canada’s Best Paid CEOs Was $7.3 Million In 2008

Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs pocketed an of average $7.3 million in 2008, the same year Canadians were hard hit by the emergence of the worldwide recession, according to a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Economist Hugh Mackenzie, who authored the report, said that’s 174 times more than the average Canadian wage.

And while the average compensation for the top CEOs outpaced inflation by 70 per cent between 1998 and 2008, people earning the average income lost six per cent to inflation over that period, he said.

“To put that in perspective, Canadians will work full-time throughout the year to earn the national average of $42,305,” Mackenzie said.

“The top 100 CEOs pocket that amount by 1:01 p.m. on Jan. 4 – the first working day of the year.”

Thomas Glocer of Thomson Reuters Corp. was the top earner with a total salary of $36.6 million, followed by the late Ted Rogers at $21.5 million.

Big bank executives were also on the list with healthy compensation, despite a federal government bank bailout in the form of mortgage purchasing that helped banks preserve their annual profit-making, the report said.

TD Bank CEO Edmund Clark made $11.1 million in 2008, while National Bank’s Louis Vachon pocketed $10.5 million and Gordon Nixon of Royal Bank took home $9.6 million.

Richard Waugh of the Bank of Nova Scotia had total earnings of $9.2 million, William Downe of the Bank of Montreal made $6.4 million and CIBC’s Gerry McCaughey had a salary of $6.3 million.

None of the CEOs from troubled automakers GM and Chrysler, which at the height of the economic crisis received billions in government bailouts, made it onto the list since those companies are U.S.-based.

Magna International chairman Frank Stronach, however, was No. 16 with earnings of $10.8 million in 2008.

Mackenzie said in an interview he was surprised at how high the compensation was given what happened to the economy in 2008, adding that several corporations have either two or three executives who share the chief executive title – and all two or three can make the list.

“If you rolled up some of those double and triple counts you’d have some pretty stratospheric numbers for what executives are paid,” he said.

The numbers, he added, also showed quite a bit of resilience in the face not only of the downturn of the economy but also “increasing criticism of the corporate executive pay system, both from significant political leaders and from… leaders within the business academic community.”

“In a year in which we dropped into the biggest recession since the ’30s, (you’d think) you would have seen executive compensation go down,” said Mackenzie.

“Yet we still saw the top 100 get an average of $161,000 a year in bonuses related to stock options and much more than that in stock grants.”

Rupert Duchesne of Groupe Aeroplan Inc. was in the 100th spot with earnings of $3.2 million.

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Here is a list of their salaries, from highest to lowest, as compiled by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives:

-Thomas Glocer, Thomson Reuters Corp. $36.6 million.

-Ted Rogers, Rogers Communications Inc. $21.5 million.

-J. M. Lipton, Nova Chemicals Corp. $19.8 million.

-George Cope, BCE Inc. $19.6 million.

-Robert Brown, CAE Inc.$17.3 million.

-William Doyle, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan $17 million.

-Hunter Harrison, Canadian National Railway Co. $13.4 million.

-Dominic D’Alessandro, Manulife Financial Corp. $13.3 million.

-Stephen Wetmore, Bell Aliant Regional Com. Income Fund $11.6 million.

-Serafino Iacono (co-chairman), Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. $11.3 million.

-Miguel de la Campa (co-chairman), Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. $11.3 million.

-Jeffrey Orr, Power Financial Corp. $11.3 million.

-Jean Claude Gandur, Addax Petroleum Corp. $11.2 million.

-Edmund Clark, Toronto-Dominion Bank $11.1 million.

-Tye Burt, Kinross Gold Corp. $11.1 million.

-Frank Stronach (Chairman), Magna International Inc. $10.8 million.

-Louis Vachon, National Bank of Canada $10.5 million.

-Randall Eresman, EnCana Corp. $10.3 million.

-Gordon Nixon, Royal Bank of Canada $9.6 million.

-Ron Brenneman, Petro-Canada $9.2 million

-Richard Waugh, Bank of Nova Scotia $9.2 million.

-Michael Wilson, Agrium Inc. $9.2 million.

-Gregory Wilkins, Barrick Gold Corp. $8.9 million.

-John A Manzoni, Talisman Energy Inc. $8.8 million.

-Allan Leighton, Loblaw Cos. Ltd./Weston $8.8 million.

-Kevin McArthur, Goldcorp Inc. $8.7 million.

-Craig H. Muhlhauser, Celestica Inc $8.7 million.

-Harold Kvisle, TransCanada Corp. $8.6 million.

-Eugene C. McBurney, (Chairman) GMP Corp. $8.3 million.

-Jim Shaw, Shaw Communications Inc. $8.2 million.

-Richard George, Suncor Energy Inc. $8 million.

-Pierre Beaudoin, Bombardier Inc.$7.8 million.

-Richard J. Harrington, Thomson Reuters Corp. $7.8 million.

-D.A. Loney, Great-West Lifeco Inc. $7.3 million.

-Pierre Peladeau, Quebecor Inc. $7 million.

-James Kinnear, Pengrowth Energy Trust $6.9 million.

-Darren Entwistle, TELUS Corp. $6.9 million.

-Stephen Snyder, TransAlta Corp. $6.9 million.

-Donald Stewart, Sun Life Financial Inc. $6.6 million.

-Robert A. Milton, ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. $6.6 million.

-Donald Lindsay, Teck Cominco Ltd. $6.5 million.

-Peter Munk, Barrick Gold Corp. $6.5 million.

-Patrick Daniel, Enbridge Inc. $6.5 million.

-William Downe, Bank of Montreal $6.4 million.

-Nancy Southern, Atco Ltd./Canadian Utilities Ltd. $6.3 million.

-Gerry McCaughey, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce $6.3 million.

-Jacques Lamarre, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. $6.3 million.

-Charles Fischer, Nexen Inc. $6.2 million.

-Bruce Aitken, Methanex Corp. $5.9 million.

-Donald Walker, Magna International Inc.$5.9 million.

-Jurgen Schreiber, Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. $5.9 million.

-Edward M. Siegel Jr., Russel Metals Inc. $5.8 million.

-Siegfried Wolf, Magna International Inc. $5.7 million.

-David Goodman, Dundee Wealth $5.6 million.

-Mario Longhi, Gerdau Ameristeel Corp. $5.6 million.

-Ronald Pantin, Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. $5.5 million.

-Allen Chan, Sino-Forest Corp. $5.3 million.

-Geoffrey T. Martin, CCL Industries $5.3 million.

-Sean Boyd, Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. $5.3 million.

-Scott Saxberg, Crescent Point Energy Trust $5.3 million.

-Ian Greenberg, Astral Media Inc. $5.3 million.

-Paul Desmarais Jr., Power Corp. of Canada $5.2 million.

-James Balsillie, Research in Motion Ltd. $5.2 million.

-Michael Lazaridis, Research in Motion Ltd. $5.2 million.

-Andre Desmarais, Power Corp. of Canada $5 million.

-Francois Coutu, Jean Coutu Group $4.9 million.

-Jay Hennick, FirstService Corp. $4.8 million.

-John Lau, Husky Energy Inc. $4.8 million.

-Frederic Green, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. $4.7 million.

-John Macken, Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. $4.7 million.

-Steve Laut, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. $4.6 million.

-Peter R. Jones, HudBay Minerals Inc. $4.6 million.

-Gerald Grandey, Cameco Corp. $4.6 million.

– Marc Tellier, Yellow Pages Income Fund $4.6 million.

-Mayo M. Schmidt, Viterra Inc. $4.5 million.

-Marvin F. Romanow, Nexen Inc. $4.5 million.

-M.H. McCain, Maple Leaf Foods Inc. $4.4 million.

-Keith A. Carrigan, BFI Canada Ltd. $4.4 million.

-Alain Bedard, TransForce Inc. $4.3 million.

-Wm. Wells, Biovail Corp. $4.3 million.

-Gerald Schwartz, Onex Corp. $4.3 million.

-Raymond McFeetors, Great-West Lifeco Inc. $4.2 million.

-Ellis Jacob, Cineplex Galaxy Income Fund $4.1 million.

-Robert S Pritchard, Torstar Corp. $4.1 million.

-Michael Waites, Finning International Inc. $4.1 million.

-Stephen H. Sorenson, Uex Corp $4 million.

-B.H. March, Imperial Oil Ltd. $4 million.

-Charles Jeannes, Goldcorp Inc. $4 million.

-Luc Desjardins, Transcontinental Inc. $4 million.

-Stanley Marshall, Fortis Inc. $3.9 million.

-Peter Marrone, Yamana Gold Inc. $3.9 million.

-Marcel Coutu, Canadian Oil Sands Trust $3.7 million.

-Kevin Loughrey, Thompson Creek Metals Co. Inc.$ 3.7 million.

-Thomas Gauld, Canadian Tire Corp. $3.6 million.

-Brett Herman, TriStar Oil & Gas Ltd. $3.6 million.

-S. Defalco, MDS Inc. $3.5 million.

-W.P. Buckley, ShawCor Ltd. $3.5 million.

-D.L. Rogers, Sears Canada Inc. $3.5 million.

-Edward Sonshine, RioCan REIT $3.4 million.

-Rupert Duchesne, Groupe Aeroplan Inc. $3.2 million.

Source: The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives