The average pay for Canada’s top 100 CEOs has exceeded $10 million annually for the first time, according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
In its annual examination of executive pay, the left-leaning think tank calculated the country’s highest-paid CEOs brought home $10.4 million in 2016 — up 8% from 2015’s average of $9.6 million.
That means that by 10:57 a.m. on January 2, the average top CEO in Canada has earned more than what the average worker will take home for the entire year.
“When we started compiling this data, the average CEO had to work until late afternoon to meet this milestone. It has been getting closer to breakfast in most of the years since,” the CCPA said in its report.
The CCPA culled the executive salary data from public data filed by the largest companies traded on the S&P/TSX composite, highlighting the 100 CEOs who received the most compensation.
The CEOs were compensated through a mix of base salaries, bonuses and shares.
While average top CEO compensation grew 8% from 2015 to 2016, the average Canadian worker saw wages increase by 0.5% to $49,738.
A British Columbian earning minimum wage at $11.35 an hour would need to work full-time hours for 1.4 months to earn what the average top CEO earns in a single hour: $2,489.62 .
The B.C. executive taking home the most in 2016 was Daniel Friedmann, the former CEO of MacDonald, Dettwiler & Associates, who earned $21.4 million.
Friedmann retired from the aerospace firm that same year, earning just over $3 million in salary, bonuses and option-based compensation, and $18.1 million in “all other compensation,” according to the report.
torton@biv.com
@reporton
