Canadian CEOs Are Richer Than Ever

CEOs of major Canadian companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange are getting paid better than ever, according to a new report from the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) released Tuesday.

According to the document, Canada’s 100 highest-paid CEOs could have earned an average of $10.9 million in 2020, an increase of $95,000 over the previous year. Another Year in Heaven: Paying the CEO in 2020.

The report said business leaders had one of the best compensation years, with annual compensation for executives now 191 times the average salary of workers.

“At this rate, it would take the average worker a full year to earn what Canada’s highest-paid CEOs would receive just before dinner on January 4, the first official working day of the year,” the statement said. Author and CCAC Chief Economist David MacDonald.

The economist added that if 2020 has been a particularly difficult year for many workers, CEO pay doesn’t appear to have been shaken by anything, not even the pandemic.

Bonuses, such as cash bonuses, represent 82% of the annual earnings of the nation’s highest-paid CEOs.

“If there is only one reason CEO pay is in the stratosphere, it is because uncontrollable bonuses are protected from declining, even in a pandemic,” said MacDonald, who noted that bonuses increased much more than wages.

Of the 100 richest CEOs, 30 run a company that uses Canada Emergency Pay Support (CUSS), 14 have seen their bonus increase due to COVID-19, and five have lived either way.

Several policy solutions, including the addition of a wealth tax, are recommended in this report.