A6 snr.u'noAy, .JUN-E 2s, 2016 EDMoNToN JoURNAL

Highsalaries'alarm'financeministerWorkers'Compboss at the topof sunshine list

EMMA GRANEY

The head of Alberta's Workers'Compensation Board, Guy Kerr,took home $896,206 in pay andbenefits in 2015.

Not far behind him was the headof Alberta Electrical System Op-erator (AESO), David Erickson,with $861,549.

Following the provincial govern-ment's unveiling of an expandedsurishine list Thursday, examplesofwhat Finance Minister Joe Cecicalled "exorbitant" incomes con-tinued to ooze their way onlineFYiday as the list grew.

The list was established to shinelight on who takes home the larg-est public paycheques. Originallyjust government employees earn-ing more than $125,0O0 per year,it has been broadened to includeemployees of Alberta's agencies,boards and commissions.

Neither of the twobiggest earn-ers onAlberta's expanded sunshinelist were speakingto media Fridayabout why they're worth close to$1 million a year, though spokes-persons fromWCB andAESO saidtheir bosses' salaries are bench-marked by wages in comparableorganizations.

It's a similar story over at theAlberta Energy Regulator (AXR).

Of its l,2OO employees, close toa third make over the $f2S,OOOthreshold, with a dozen earningmore than $3OO,OOO each year.

The regulator's boss, Jim Ellis, tookhome $721,681 in pay and benefits.

Spokeswoman Carrie Rosa ex-plained AER's hig;h wages as a com-petitiveness measure, because it'sup against the oil and gas sector inthe tussle for employees.

AESO spokesman Mike Deisingsaid that, although his organiza-tion is behind the scenes, it sup-plies power to every home, school,business and industry in Albertaand Erickson is the oneultimatelyaccountable.

Deising also stressed that AESO,though an agency ofgovernment,isn't funded by the public purse;likeAER" it's industrytunded. ,

As forWCB, spokesman Ben Dillesaid in an email that Kerr overseesthe management of a $Io-billioninvestment portfolio "while guid-ing 1,70o employees to make theright decisions every day."

"It's critical that we're able tocompete for this type of top tal-ent," he wrote.

Ceci wouldn't be drawn intowhat he thinks is the most jaw-dropping paycheque to come tolight so far, but said what he hasseen is "alarming."

He also suggested the former PCgovernment failed to keep watchon salaries, and accused someagencies, boards and commissionsof "treating the Alberta govern-ment as a private enterprise."r "I didn't know these things..Idon$S$gk.-tffiage Alb e rtanknewthese things about the some-

Alberta Energy Regulator CEO Jim Ellis earned $721,681 last year. A dozenemployees made more than $300,00O. cnvsrer scvrcK/FILE

what exorbitant srilafies of someoflhe people who are being sun-shinednowj'he said.

Ceci said legislation passed in thespring will allow the government"to betterbring these salaries backin line with public-sector salariesand expectations of the public."

With the disconnected natureof the list rankling some, Ceci saidlists in the future will be improved.

To that, the Opposition acceptedthe challenge, and on FYiday after-noorL Wildrose trumpeted its ownsearchable database containing2O55 names, created from the in-formation posted online.

Wildrose finance critic DerekFildebrandt said the top-levelWCB salaries are "stratospheric"and more research needs to bedone to determine iftaxtrlayers aregetting value for money.

"It obviously raises my eye-brows," Fildebrandt said.

The province is reviewing allWCB operations to determine ifthe agency remains effective andaffordable.

Salaries for university executivesare to be released in the comingdays. Financial statements showthat University of Calgary presi-dent Elizabeth Cannon received$895,000 in the fiscal year endingMarch 2015 while former Univer-sity of Alberta president IndiraSamarasekera received $98O,OOO.With file s fr o m The C anadi an Pr e s s

e g raney @p os tmedi a. comtw i tt e r. c o m/E mm a L Gr an e y