$260K homecare CEO salary vexes health critic France Gelinas

The Northeast Community Care Access Centre is being criticized for the salary of its CEO.

It was revealed on Friday, when the list revealing the salaries of Ontario's highest earning public servants was released, that Richard Joly earned more than $260,000 dollars in 2012 as the head of the home health care provider.

The 48 per cent raise in his salary from 2009 is something NDP health critic France Gelinas said she finds unsettling.

"It is a trend we see throughout the CCAC sector, and it is greatly disturbing. You look at the people who provide CCAC care they barely make above minimum wage."

She criticized the organization for raising executive salaries and not those of front-line workers.

But the chair of the Northeast CCAC board defended the organization, saying the salary has increased because the job has changed.

Over the period of time, we have taken [on] numerous additional responsibilities, from physiotherapy to rapid response nursing, Ron Farrellsaid. "The organization has gone through a tremendous change as part of the transformation of the health care system."

He cited the amalgamation of smaller CCACs, and new initiatives like home care as putting more stress on the CEO

Farrell noted the increase was also made to keep up with the market rate of other health care CEOs.

Joly is the fourth-highest-paid CEO in the organization, which has a total of 14 CEOs across the province.

The Sunshine List was brought in under the Mike Harris-led Progressive Conservative government in 1996.At the time, Harris said it served as an important check on the public payroll.

The Public Salary Disclosure Act requires organizations that receive public funding from the Province of Ontario to disclose annually the names, positions, salaries and total taxable benefits of employees paid $100,000 or more in a calendar year.

The act applies to organizations such as the Government of Ontario, Crown agencies, municipalities, hospitals, public health boards, school boards, universities, colleges, Hydro One, Ontario Power Generation, and other public sector employers who receive a significant level of funding from the provincial government.