A new report shows that Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs in 2023 made the equivalent of the average Canadian worker’s annual salary by their mid-morning coffee break.
That’s according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative’s (CCPA), report, Company Men: CEO Pay in Canada 2023, which lists the 100 highest paid CEOs and as result, shows an increasing income gap between Canadian workers and CEOs.
“It’s hard to conceive of income gaps that large,” says Senior Economist David Macdonald in the CCPA report. “By the first working day of the year, January 2 at 10:54 a.m., these 100 CEOs already made, on average, $62,661. It took the average Canadian worker all year to earn that amount.”
According to the report the top 100 CEOs in 2023 were paid 210 times more than the average worker, clearing $13.2 million on average.
“Apart from the pandemic recovery years, 2023 marked the highest CEO pay Canada has ever seen,” states the report.
From first place to 100th, Patrick Dovigi at GFL Environmental Inc. was the highest paid CEO in 2023 with $68.5 million in total compensation. And in 100th place, the CEO of BRP Inc., José Boisjoli, was paid $6,895,089 in 2023 – which, when calculated hourly, comes to $3,255 per hour.
“CEOs have always made more than the average worker, but the gap is growing. In 1998, they made 104 times more than the average worker’s wage,” states the report. By 2023, that total has more than doubled.
What’s the source of this abundance? CEO or not, a worker’s total pay comprises several pay categories but one of the main differences is the base salary. While the average worker relies on their base salary for the majority of their liveable income, the average base salary for these CEOs makes up less than 10 per cent (roughly $1.2 million) of their total pay.
“The major reason why CEO pay is growing so much more rapidly than worker pay isn’t their salary, pension or benefits—it’s their juicy bonuses,” read the report.
In 2023, the biggest payout for these CEOs came from bonuses, and of those, 49 per cent were in share awards, making it the CEOs largest pay category.
“In reality, CEO bonuses rise regardless of performance.”
According to CCPA’s report, CEOs were paid the bonuses if the company was doing well, and if the company did not meet its yearly target, bonuses were paid whether through adjusting goal posts or through government support.
“These awards are based on company performance in good times but are often changed in bad times to ensure execs get them anyway,” it stated.
As the title of the report would suggest, men account for 97 of the 100 highest paid CEOs in Canada, while women make up three.
Of the CEOs listed, three quarters of them did not just parachute into their throne but had worked within the company for an average of two decades before getting promoted.
“These aren’t gods plucked from heaven requiring heavenly pay packages—they’re internal hires who spent the bulk of their career at a single company,” says Macdonald. “In other words, they are company men. The myths exist to justify extreme pay.”
The justification of the extreme pay is in their loyalty to and insider knowledge of that one company, thus losing their competitive edge in the larger market.
Other CEOs on the 100 highest pay list include third highest paid CEO, R.M. Kruger for Suncor Energy Inc. with $36,846,735 – Shopify Inc. CEO, Tobias Lütke in fifth place with a salary of $1, but a total pay of $26,994,011 – and in ninth, Darren Entwistle with Telus Corp had $0 in option based awards but a total pay of $21,064,289.
For more information, read the full report here.
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