The annual so-called Sunshine List is out – the annual list of employees of municipal governments and provincially regulated agencies in Ontario who received salaries of $100,000 or more during the past year.

The 2021 list includes employees of all local municipalities, school boards, hospitals, and public health services. For individuals such as full-time firefighters and paramedics, salaries often reach or exceed $100,000, due to overtime above the base salary. 

Municipal governments 

Three Township of Champlain municipal personnel earned $100,000 or more in 2021. Those individuals are:

Former Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Paula Knudsen, $141,149

Chief Building Official Jacques Gauthier, $109,635

Treasurer Kevin Tessier, $104,087.16. 

The highest paid municipal employee in the Town of Hawkesbury in 2021 was a full-time firefighter. Patrick Mayer earned $151,722.84 last year. The other two highest-earning municipal employees were:

CAO Dominique Dussault, $146,379.53 

Treasurer Philippe Timbers, $121,046.53. 

The Township of East Hawkesbury had only one municipal employee who was paid $100,000 or more in 2021. CAO Luc Lalonde’s 2021 salary was $114,404.91. 

Eight municipal personnel in La Nation made it onto the $100,000 and more list last year. The following employees were paid the three-highest amounts. 

Chief Administrative Officer Josée Brizard, $148,915.27 

Director of Planning Guylain Laflèche, $132,773.90 

Director of Public Works Marc Legault, $132,741.58 

Three employees of the Township of Alfred and Plantagenet were paid $100,000 or more in 2021. They are: 

Public Works Superintendent Roch Hébert, $116,935.70 

Chief Administrative Officer Michel Potvin, $113,883 

Municipal Engineer Jonathan Gendron, $108,424 

At the United Counties of Prescott and Russell (UCPR), a total of 79 employees were paid $100,000 or more in 2021. The three highest paid UCPR employees were: 

Chief Administrative Officer Stéphane Parisien, $216,865.53 

Director of Economic Development and Tourism Carole Lavigne, $159,188.13 

Director of Human Resources Pierre Gauthier, $156,897.82 

Health services 

In 2021, 35 employees of the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU), which provides public health services for Prescott and Russell, and Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry counties earned $100,000 or more. The three highest paid employees were: 

Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, $409,842. 

Director Linda Cleroux, $186,831.37 

Director Thérèse Bourgeois, $170,796.38 

At Hawkesbury and District General Hospital (HGH), 80 staff employees made it onto the 2021 Sunshine List. The following employees received the three highest pay in 2021: 

CEO Marc Leboutillier, $239,078.81  

Registered Nurse Marilyn San Pablo, $211,962.92 

Registered Nurse Manon Leclair, $195,401.52 

Glengarry Memorial Hospital in Alexandria is a smaller facility than HGH, and 16 staff members there earned $100,000 or greater in 2021. Those individuals are: 

Registered Nurse Dularie Bhagwandin, $183,412.42 

Registered Nurse Connie Macdougall, $170,314.44 

Registered Nurse Janice Gareau-Lacombe, $158,497.59 

The UCPR provides emergency medical and paramedic services and operates the Prescott-Russell Residence long-term care facility. In 2021, UCPR Director of Emergency Services Marc-André Périard was paid $133,948.85 and the salary for Prescott-Russell Residence Administrator Alexandre Gorman was $134,357.65.  

Education 

Among schools in the Upper Canada District School Board in 2021, Glengarry District High School Principal Jennifer MacLachlan’s 2021 earnings were $132,226.12 and Vankleek Hill Collegiate Institute Principal Christie Walker earned $125,322.98. At Pleasant Corners Public School, Principal Darryl Beck was paid $122,906.94 last year.  

St. Jude Catholic Elementary School Principal Michelle Brasseur-Robillard’s 2021 salary was $121,971.98.  

The only local school board headquartered in Prescott-Russell is the Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien. In 2021, at École élémentaire catholique St-Grégoire in Vankleek Hill, Principal Pascale Desjardins’ salary  was $133,002.65. Director of Education and Secretary Eugénie Congi was paid $124,040.53. École secondaire catholique régionale de Hawkesbury Principal Joey Bédard earned $125,782.06 last year. 

Lissa Côté, Interim Principal at École élémentaire publique Nouvel Horizon in Hawkesbury received a salary of $116,733.30 in 2021.