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Canadian corporate CEOs average $7,352,895 each

New CCPA study says top 100 Canadian CEOs pocketed 174 times each what average Canadian workers earn all year.

Ottawa (5 Jan. 2010) - Canada's highest-paid CEOs raked in an average of $7,352,895 in 2008, the latest year for which statistics are available. Thats 174 times more than the average wage of the typical Canadian worker.

"To put that in perspective, Canadians will work full-time throughout the year to earn the national average of $42,305," says Hugh Mackenzie of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), which has just released a new report on the subject.

Yet as of 1:01 p.m. on their first working day of this year (Jan. 4) the top 100 CEOs in the country had already pocketed as much as the average Canadian worker will in all of 2010.

The CCPA study says average compensation for the top CEOs has outpaced inflation by 70% between 1998 and 2008. During the same period, Canadians earning the average income lost 6% to inflation.

Here are the top 10 hogs at the corporate trough:

  • Thomas Glocer, Thomson Reuters Corp. -  $36,595,233.
  • Ted Rogers, Rogers Communications Inc. - $21,484,708.
  • J. M. Lipton, Nova Chemicals Corp. - $19,753,245.
  • George Cope, BCE Inc. - $19,551,345.
  • Robert Brown, CAE Inc. FY end March 08 - $17,293,144.
  • William Doyle, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan - $17,026,317.
  • Hunter Harrison, Canadian National Railway Co. - $13,350,048.
  • Dominic D’Alessandro, Manulife Financial Corp. - $13,251,274.
  • Stephen Wetmore, Bell Aliant Regional Com. Income Fund - $11,563,250.

For the entire 100 names please go to the link below and read as much as you can stand. Caution: Not for those with weak stomachs.

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE

More information:
Full Report: A Soft Landing - Recession and Canada's 100 Highest Paid CEOs