CHEO’s Alex Munter has not had a raise since 2012, an anomaly among hospital heads

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There were more than 300,000 employees on Ontario’s 2023 Sunshine List — made up of people on the public payroll who earned $100,000 or more.

At the very top are upper-echelon executives with Ontario Power Generation, each of whom made a lot of money, by anyone’s standard. Kenneth Harwood, president and CEO of Ontario Power Generation, sits on top of the list. In 2023, he earned $1,925,372, in addition to $7,539.84 in benefits. He is one of five OPG executives who top the list.

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Close behind on the list of top earners are hospital and health-care executives, who have long been among the highest paid public sector employees in Ontario. In 2023, a year in which the majority of hospitals recorded deficits, seven of the 20 highest paid public employees in Ontario were hospital presidents and CEOs.

Ronald Cohn, president and CEO of the Hospital for Sick Children, earned the most of any hospital executive in Ontario. In 2023, Cohn was paid $851,414.40 in salary and $17,637.92 in benefits, up by 48 per cent since 2019. Kevin Smith, president and CEO of Toronto’s large University Health Network, earned $844,992.99 and $90,619.10 in benefits. His salary has been largely unchanged since 2020, although his benefits have increased.

Cameron Love, president and CEO of The Ottawa Hospital, tops the Sunshine List for Ottawa employees. In 2023, Love earned $647,124 and $16,567 in benefits. Love’s salary was unchanged from a year earlier when it had been 3.8 per cent higher than in 2021. The multi-campus Ottawa Hospital is the largest in Eastern Ontario.

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In 2023, the head of Ottawa’s Bruyere, Guy Chartrand, earned more than $487,000; Dr. Andrew Falconer, the head of Queensway Carleton Hospital, earned $362,879; and Dominic Giroux, the head of Montfort Hospital, earned $167,212, for a partial year as president and CEO. His predecessor, Bernard Leduc, earned $437,699 during his last full year as Montfort president and CEO.

And then there is Alex Munter, president and CEO of CHEO.

In 2023, Munter earned $329,999.94 and $1,308.16 in benefits, according to the Sunshine List. In 2022, Munter was paid $329,999.81, in 2021, $329,999.83, in 2020 $329,999.80, and so on.

In fact, Munter’s earnings of about $330,000 have not changed since he began work as head of the children’s hospital in 2012, an overall increase of zero per cent during a period in which inflation increased by 30 per cent.

Among hospital executives, and almost everyone on the list, that is an anomaly. Although some hospital executives have seen their earnings frozen some years and even reduced, they increase over time. Munter’s have not.

Neither Munter nor CHEO would comment on his salary. On its website, CHEO says its executive salaries are in the mid-range for the sector and that it works hard to keep administrative costs down.

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“In pursuit of our vision and values, CHEO has always prioritized direct investments in care and has sought to carefully manage and control administrative expenses. We’ve put a lot of focus on driving down our administrative costs while providing exceptional care.”

In recent years, Munter has been among those leading a charge to right-size pediatric care in the province. Funding at CHEO, he has said, did not keep up with population growth or increasing complexity of needs such as for mental health. CHEO, like other pediatric hospitals, faced a crisis during the 2022-2023 viral season when spiking demand came close to overwhelming the hospital. Since then, the Ontario government has increased beds, services and overall funding to the hospital, which serves Eastern Ontario and areas of the North.

His salary and the salaries of all health-care executives in the province are significantly higher than most people earn, including top politicians. The average salary in Ontario sits at less than $55,000, according to one calculation. Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe earned $198,702 in 2023, and Premier Doug Ford earned $208,974.

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Since 2016, Ontario hospitals have been required to report how they determine executive pay, and what that pay range is, to the province.

Back in 2011, when the province was battling a $16 billion deficit, hospital executive compensation came under a spotlight in Ontario, with the NDP suggesting salaries be capped at double the premier’s salary.

Ottawa’s Mary Fernando, a retired doctor, noted that three of the top 10 highest paid public servants in Ontario are in health care.

“We see that there are numerous highly paid CEOs of hospitals. Not only does their income take much needed money away from patient care, but it brings up an important question: how much in total do all the administrators of each hospital cost? While doctors and nurses are being asked to do more for patients with less, we need transparency on total cost of administration and start some cutbacks there.”

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