Are CEOs paid too much?

Top Canadian CEOs earn annual worker's salary by lunchtime on Jan. 2

TORONTO -- By the time you finish lunch on Thursday, Canada's top paid CEOs will have already earned the equivalent of your annual salary.

It may be hard to swallow, but according to an annual review by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, by 1:11 p.m. on Jan. 2, the average top paid Canadian CEO will have been earned as much as the average full-time worker's yearly income.

The review found the average compensation among Canada's top 100 CEOs was $7.96 million in 2012. This compared with the average annual Canadian worker's salary of $46,634.

Economist Mike Moffat pointed out that “More NHLers earn 6 million+ a year than Canadian CEOs do.” And while sports commentators and fans sometimes roll their eyes at the astronomical salaries top athletes currently command, they’re not exactly taking to the streets in protest.


So why are people so outraged by executive compensation, but not by the salaries of sports figures?

Source: Canadian Business

 Why we pay CEOs too much, and how we can stop

The Globe And Mail

Recently, a group representing Canada’s biggest pension plans stood up and voted “no” at the Barrick Gold Corp. annual meeting. When asked to approve a pay package for its CEO and board of directors, shareholders voted 85.2 per cent to reject the high-priced plan.

Barrick is only the second Canadian publicly traded company to lose a say-on-pay vote. Last year, pharmaceutical company QLT Inc. lost a similar vote. While non-binding, these votes do serve as advice from the company’s investors.

Where’s the public outrage over sky-high CEO pay?
Business Financial Post

Richest CEOs earn 189 times average Canadian


Top 100 executives earned about $8.38M each in 2010