The province of Alberta is limiting the pay and perks post-secondary top executives are offered, according to the Edmonton Sun.
This decision comes after the provincial government launched a review into agencies, boards, and commissions identified for consolidation or dissolution in the 2016 budget, an initiative that will save $33 million over three years, according to a press release by the Alberta government.
According to the Alberta government website, the review consists of three phases, with phase one focussing on agencies, boards, and commissions (ABCs) that are subject to the Alberta Public Agency Governance Act (APAGA), and phase two being ABCs that are not subjected to APAGA. Phase three—currently in progress—consists of reviewing Alberta’s public post-secondary institutions’ compensations.
For the post-secondary review, the ministry brought in consultants from the Hay Group to review compensation and responsibilities of top earners and do a national comparison, according to the Sun.
Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt told the Edmonton Sun the provincial government intends to limit the pay and perks as early as next spring, calling them “way out of line with the rest of the country.”
In 2015, the Alberta Public Sector Compensation Transparency Act required that the University of Alberta disclose the name, position, compensation, non-monetary benefits and severance for all employees whose total earnings exceeded a certain threshold, according to the university website.
Publicly accessible salary data shows that Alberta university presidents are the highest paid in the nation.
The Edmonton Sun cited in 2016 that the presidents of six Alberta universities were given compensation that amounted to more than $3 million in 2015.
According to University of Alberta’s public sector compensation disclosure, the university spent about $919,000 remunerating two presidents in 2015—$580,000 for outgoing president Indira Samarasekera, and another $339,000 to incoming president David Turpin.
The University of Calgary’s president, Elizabeth Cannon, earned $626,000 last year according to the university’s disclosure.
But, Canadian citizens might be getting a deal compared with other nations as top college presidents in Australia, the U.S. and England acquire generously more, consultant Alex Usher, president of Toronto-based Higher Education Strategy Associates, said to the Sun.
Steven Reid, a media relations officer at Carleton University, said in an email that like all Ontario universities, Carleton must adhere to Ontario’s Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act of 2014 when determining executive compensation.
“All designated employers are required to have a written executive compensation program that describes the compensation they may provide to designated executives. The program must include information on salary, performance-related pay caps and other elements of compensation,” he said.
Reid added that funds for executive salaries are allocated from the university’s annual budget.
“Using the process outlined by the government, we believe that the compensation packages for senior administrators at Carleton fairly represent the skills and tasks of the positions,” he said.
Former Carleton president Roseann Runte earned about $360,000 in 2016, according to Ontario’s Sunshine List.
Humza Ali, a first-year law student at Carleton, said there should be a relationship between how hard an individual works and how much they get paid back, and the budget should be allocated according to hard work.
“If you can work, five hours a day, five days a week and make $4,000 a week, why wouldn’t you? There nothing wrong with a high salary for a hard and important job,” he explained.
Photo by Meagan Casalino
