Cashing in: Canada’s CEO salary surge

In the past 12 years, there’s been a 444 per cent salary increase for Canada’s top CEOs. The top 10 earners collected a total of $60.7 million in 1995—by 2007, that number had jumped to $330.3 million. For example, Paul Desmarais, CEO of  Power Corp, made more than $5 million in 1995; in 2007, his take-home was more than $29 million.

Here’s a breakdown of the take-home pay for all 50 of Canada’s top CEOs—in 1995 and in 2007. Read ’em and weep.

1995, total take home for the year:

1. Gerald Pencer, Cott Corp. $13,005,559
2. John Doddridge, Magna Intl. $10,853,543
3. David Walsh, Bre-X Minerals. $10,008,000
4. Paul Desmarais, Power Corp. $5,654,258
5. Stephen Hudson, Newcourt Credit Group. $4,221,471
6. Brent Ballantyne, Maple Leaf Foods. $3,588,306
7. Clayton Woltas, Renaissance Energy. $3,483,600
8. Richard Thomson, Toronto Dominion Bank. $3,372,804
9. Bernard Isautier, Canadian Occidental Petroleum. $3,303,120
10. Lawrence Bloomberg, First Marathon Inc. $3,252,000
11. Michel Perron, Uniforet Inc. $3,250,000
12. Gerald Schwartz, Onex Corp. $3,150,000
13. Charles Childers, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan. $3,106,847
14. David O’Brien, PanCanadian Petroleum. $3, 075, 463
15. William Holland, United Dominion Industries. $3, 068, 543
16. Brian Steck, Nesbitt Thomson. $2, 527, 935
17. Edgar Bronfman Jr., Seagram Co. Ltd., $2, 523, 074
18. Matthew Barrett, Bank of Montreal. $2, 511, 953
19. Richard Currie, Loblaw Cos. $2, 400, 000
20. John Cleghorn, Royal Bank of Canada. $2, 281, 192
21. Purdy Crawford, Imasco. Ltd., $2, 267, 152
22. James Buckeo, Talisman Energy. $2, 251, 346
23. Jean Monty, Northern Telecom. $2, 236, 444
24. Anthony Feil, RBC Dominion Securities. $2, 010, 055
25. Peter Godsoe, Bank of Nova Scotia. $1, 966, 868
26. Al Flood, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. $1,906,334
27. Jacques Bougie, Alcan Aluminum. $1,782,205
28. Edward Newall, Nova Corp. $1,657,358
29. Franklin Pickard, Falconbridge Ltd. $1,584,441
30. Lynton Wilson, BCE Inc. $1,543,583
31. Reto Braun, Moore Corp. $1,491,954
32. Robert Ogilvie, Toromont Industries. $1,476,641
33. Kenneth Thomson, Thomson Corp. $1,474,560
34. Peter Munk, Barrick Gold. $1,352,551
35. James Stanford, Petro-Canada. $1,344,197
36. Israel Asper, CanWest Global Communications. $1,337,408
37. Andre Berard, National Bank of Canada. $1,334,336
38. Hollis Harris, Air Canada. $1,316,868
39. James Bullock, Laidlaw Inc. $1,307,562
40. Peter Munk, Horsham Corp. $1,280,000
41. William Shields, Co-Steel Inc. $1,277,108
42. David Galloway, Torstar Corp. $1,212,679
43. Robert  Peterson, Imperial Oil Ltd. $1,176,751
44. George Kosich, Hudson’s Bay Co. $1,162,855
45. William Casey, Coca-Cola Beverages. $1,138,253
46. Gwyn Morgan, Alberta Energy Co. $1,131,769
47. Wayne Lenton, Canada Tungsten Inc. $1,130,190
48. Ronald Oberlander, Abitibi-Price. $1,129,704
49. Donald Shaffer, Sears Canada Inc. 1,128,227
50. John Wilson, Placer Dome Inc. $1,123,069

2007, total take home for the year:

1. Michael Lazaridis, Research in Motion Ltd. $51, 515, 518
2. Gordon Nixon, Royal Bank of Canada. $44, 270, 084
3. Robert A. Milton, ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. $42, 928, 122
4. James Balsillie, Research in Motion Ltd., $32, 053, 959
5. Paul Desmarais Jr., Power Corp. of Canada. $29, 292, 829
6. Andre Desmarais, Power Corp. of Canada. $28, 675, 763
7. Bruce Flatt, Brookfield Asset Management Inc. $27, 164, 707
8. J.M. Lipton, Nova Chemicals Corp. $25, 639, 972
9. Raymond McFeerors, Great-West Lifeco Inc. $24, 759, 648
10. William Doyle, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan. $24, 020, 161
11. James Buckee, Talisman Energy Inc. $21, 764, 501
12. Charles Fischer, Nexen Inc. $20, 492, 640
13. Michael Wilson, Agrium Inc. $19, 783, 195
14. Donald Stewart, Sun Life Financial Inc. $19, 535, 510
15. Richard George, Suncor Energy Inc. $18, 264, 513
16. Ian W. Delaney, Sherritt International Corp. $17, 744, 953
17. Ron Brenneman, Petro-Canada. $17, 684, 375
18. Peter Marrone, Yamana Gold Inc. $17, 381, 267
19. Richard Waugh, Bank of Nova Scotia. $16, 004, 233
20. Dominic D’Alessandro, Manulife Financial Corp. $14, 715, 681
21. John Lau, Husky Energy Inc., $14, 251, 958
22. Tim Hearn, Imperial Oil. Ltd., $13, 380, 227
23. Siegfried Wolf, Magna International Inc., $13, 359, 110
24. Hunter Harrison, Canada National Railway Co., $13, 322, 045
25. Tye Burt, Kinross Gold Corp. $13, 200, 601
26. Gerald Schwartz, Onex Corp. $12,621,993
27. Donald Walker, Magna International Inc. $12,105,897
28. Jean Claude Gandur, Addax Petroleum Corp. $11,190,781
29. Gregory Wilkins, Barrick Gold Corp. $10,269,550
30. Dr. Rui Feng, Silvercorp metals Inc. $10,169,212
31. Robert Brown, CAE Inc (for fiscal year). $10,141,957
32. Edmund Clark, Toronto-Dominion Bank. $9,840,466
33. Richard Harrington, Thomson Reuters Corp. $9,676,404
34. Kevin McArthur, Goldcorp Inc. $9,647,602
35. Gerald Grandey, Cameo Corp. $9,500,865
36. Jacques Lamarre, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. $9,076,920
37. M.H. McCain, Maple Leaf Foods Inc. $8,551,534
38. Steve Laut, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. $8,278,031
39. Arthur Millholland, Oilexco Inc. $8,123,573
40. Colin K Benner, Lundin Mining Corp. $8,041,232
41. William Downe, Bank of Montreal. $8,008,707
42. Stephen Snyder, TransAlta Corp. $7,461,700
43. Darren Entwistle, TELUS Corp. $7,440,557
44. John M Cassaday, Corus Entertainment Inc. $7,427,237
45. Jurgen Schreiber, Shopper Drug Mart Corp. $7,147,083
46. Gerald M. Soloway, Home Capital Group Inc. $6,928,000
47. William Holland, CI Financial Income Fund. $6,803,141
48. Robert A Quartermain, Silver Standard Resources Inc. $6,744,145
49. Mike Zafirovski, Nortel Networks Corp. $6,715,734
50. Jim Shaw, Shaw Communications Inc. $6,709,219