Canada's 100 highest-paid CEOs in 2022 broke their pay records, most of them men, with an average compensation of $14.9 million, up from the average compensation of $14.3 million in 2021, according to the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
Source: wsj
That's the equivalent of CEOs earning $7,162 an hour, 246 times the average Canadian worker's salary, the report said. By the end of the second day of the new year, the average CEO's salary has reached the level of the average worker's annual salary.
In 2022, the gap widened, as wages for the average worker rose by 3 percent, while the wages of CEOs rose by an average of 4.4 percent, the report said. At the same time, prices rose by 6.8% that year.
Macdonald said this is very relevant to the situation with corporate profits in 2022, similar to what happened in 2021. Inflation drives profits, profits drive bonuses, and CEOs reap the rewards for it.
Source: CP24
Macdonald said the CCPA has been tracking CEO compensation for about 15 years. In the early stages of the CCPA report, he said, CEOs were paid nearly 150 times more than the average person.
Macdonald said that most CEOs are paid not in the form of salaries, but in the form of bonuses, company stock and stock options, and in fact, some CEOs are not paid at all.
Macdonald noted that in the second half of 2021, the tax deduction for stock options was limited to $200,000. As a result, recent stock grants have become a larger part of CEO compensation, he said.
The report examines the compensation of current and former Canadian CEOs and the Executive Chairman (a position higher than the CEO) in 2022.
At the top of the list is J. Patrick Doyle, executive chairman of F&B Brand International, Inc., according to the report.
Doyle, whose company owns Tim Hortons, Burger King and Popeyes, received $151.8 million in compensation in 2022, fully in stock and options, the report said.
Source: AFR
Second place went to Matthew Proud, CEO of Dye & Durham Ltd., who received $98.9 million through options.
Seetarama (Swamy) Kotagiri, CEO of Magna International Inc., was the third with $36.4 million through salary, stock and option awards, and non-equity incentive plans.
The list includes leaders from a variety of sectors, including finance, technology, energy, telecommunications, and healthcare.
According to the report, only four of the top 100 highest-earners are women, the same number as "Mark" and "Scott" on the list.
Macdonald said it was undoubtedly a men's club.
Macdonald said the gap between average CEO pay and average worker pay is the largest in Ontario, which accounts for almost half of the top 100 CEOs. According to Macdonald, Ontario's highest-paid CEOs are 298 times the average Ontario worker's salary, at $18.5 million.
The report recommends the establishment of a new maximum income tax bracket, the abolition of corporate deductions for salaries exceeding $1 million, the introduction of a wealth tax and an increase in the tax rate on capital gains.
Macdonald said that while executive pay should be linked to company performance, a weaker economy in 2023 does not necessarily mean that CEO pay will be reduced accordingly. Profits are lower in 2023, he said, but the company has historically been able to find other reasons to compensate its CEO.
This is a win-win situation for CEOs, I win on the negative side, and I win on the positive side.