Ontario NDP Demands Disclosure Of Hospital CEO Bonuses

(NAL is posting this December 16 media release from the Ontario NDP for your information. Should their bonuses and perks, including all gifts from contractors working for them like trips to the Vancouver be posted. You better damn believe it. An NAL editorial note.)

Queen’s Park – As many Ontario hospitals finalize Christmas bonuses for executives, NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo called for full disclosure of hospital CEO bonuses and perks.

“Now, more than ever, everyday people need to know that public money is being spent responsibly on their priorities. If families are being told to tighten their belts they have a right to know exactly how hospital CEOs are being paid,” said DiNovo.

“If hospitals don’t act voluntarily, the government should move swiftly to make it a requirement.” Earlier in the month, the Ontario Hospital Association commissioned John Manley, from the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, to write a report on executive pay in hospitals. DiNovo noted that although the report was flawed on many fronts — like comparing CEO pay to the private sector while refusing to draw comparisons to lower paid salaries in other provinces — the report’s recommendation for full disclosure of CEO compensation (p. 23) was worth adopting.

Currently, the province’s salary disclosure does not reveal the way bonuses are determined, or how employment contract terms, severance arrangements, pension benefits, and other perks are arrived at. The report recommended a standardized release of this information. “As hospitals are being asked to do more with less, shining a light on hospital CEO compensation is the right thing to do,” said DiNovo.

(Niagara At Large welcomes you to post your comments on this issue below. Please remember that NAL is one online site that only posts blogs by people with enough guts to share their name with their views.)