The Ford government is facing calls to step in and overhaul compensation at the provincial transit agency, Metrolinx, after the number of vice presidents paid by the publicly-funded body grew 44 per cent in a single year.
The annual salary disclosures which track the number of public servants earning $100,000 or more revealed that last year Metrolinx paid 118 people with “vice president” in their title, up from 82 the year before.
The average salary for a vice president at Metrolinx last year was roughly $243,000. In 2023, it was a little lower at $237,000.
In total, 118 people with vice president in their title appeared on the 2024 Sunshine list. That could include someone departing and their replacement if both made more than $100,000 in 2024 or compensation packages for former employees.
Among its ranks in 2024, Metrolinx had a vice president responsible for the Hamilton LRT, another in charge of the Hurontario LRT and a third vice president of the Finch West LRT.
The growing number of vice presidents at the organization and their increasing salaries in 2024 came in a year when the provincial transit agency again failed to open any new projects.
Neither the Eglinton Crosstown LRT nor the Finch West LRT, which have both missed previously publicized opening dates, were finished in 2024 as the cost of the transit agency grew.
“How many vice presidents are actually needed to not deliver on projects that Ontarians need?” Ontario NDP finance critic Catherine Fife said.
“One would think that there would be measurables or benchmarks that these vice presidents have to reach in order for them to, one, stay employed and also receive such high compensation.”
The latest sunshine list figures, released last Friday, saw former Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster make his way into the province’s highest five earners for the first time.
Last year, Verster — who left the Crown corporation in December after a turbulent tenure plagued by delays in opening light rail projects — earned $883,990.63.
He was also paid $13,826.58 in taxable benefits, which include a vehicle allowance despite the fact Verster did not drive.
Infrastructure Ontario’s Michael Lindsay took over from Verster as interim head of Metrolinx. The new leadership, Fife said, could be a chance to reset the top of the agency.
“This definitely is an opportunity for Metrolinx to read the room a little bit,” she said. “But I don’t think that that will happen unless the premier, the finance minister, the minister of transportation, any minister at all would at least try to hold them to account and really create some transparency.”
Metrolinx did not address questions about the salary increases in a statement sent to Global News.
“We are building the largest expansion of transit in North America’s history,” the agency said, listing the projects it is working on.
Overall, there was an increase in the number of Metrolinx staff on the sunshine list.
The $100,000-per-year figure disclosed through the sunshine list was settled on in 1996 in a law that requires all public organizations to list staff making that figure or above. The value of $100,000 from 1996 to 2024 dollars would be roughly $180,000.
Successive governments have declined to update the figure, which is still higher than the median Ontario household income.
The government said the increase in Metrolix’s overall number of employees on the sunshine list was partly down to 2024 being a leap year and a union payout as a result of Bill 124 being repealed.
Adjusting for those two one-offs, the agency would have still seen a 22-per cent increase in the number of staff on the sunshine list.
Fife said Metrolinx’s salaries are something the province should step in to address.
“This is actually a problem with these arms-length agencies, whereby there’s very little oversight and accountability and their executive compensation — and bureaucracy — has exploded,” she said.
“And the government seems quite content to allow this to continue.”