Ontario just dropped its "Sunshine List" for 2021, revealing which of the province's public servants made six-figure salaries (or more) last year.

In typical Ford government fashion, the highly-anticipated and oft-contenious compendium of people who get paid big tax dollars came in at 4 p.m. on a Friday afernoon.

But don't you worry, nobody's letting this one skip under the radar. 

You can find the full searchable, sortable database with information from 2021 right here, complete with the full names, positions, salaries and total taxable benefits earned by all public sector employees who earned over $100,000.

Some background before I share the top 10, for those who need it: Ontario requires any organization that recieves public funding from the province to "make public, by March 31 each year," the names and salaries of anyone paid $100,000 or more in the previous calendar year, though some argue that this figure is outdated.

The registry (colloquially referred to as the sunshine list) was created through the Ontario Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act all the way back in 1996, when $100K was considered a heft salary.

The Toronto Star's Rob Ferguson estimates that, thanks to inflation, the equivalent of $100,000 in 1996 was about $157,661 in 2021.

Some argue that the limit should be raised, as many who appear on it are simply hard-working professionals who might not want everyone they know to have access to their compensation level, including nurses, teachers, provincial police, municipal project managers, professors, paramedics and other public servants. 

People on the annual list include anyone who works for crown agencies, municipalities, hospitals, school boards, public health boards, the provincial government, universities, colleges, Ontario Power Generation and "other public sector employers who receive a significant level of funding from the provincial government."

Last year, six of the top 10 earners — all executives — worked for the Ontario Power Generation. The same four OPG execs remain at the top of the list, their rankings unchanged but their salaries all boosted by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Without further ado, here were the top ten priciest employees in the Ontario public service last year:

1. Kenneth Hartwick, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ontario Power Generation, $1,628,246.00
2. Dominique Miniere, President, Nuclear, Ontario Power Generation, $1,523,518.84
3. Sean Granville, Chief Operations Officer and Chief Nuclear Officer, Ontario Power Generation, $1,064,429.42
4. Michael Martelli, Chief Projects Officer, Ontario Power Generation, $1,010,834.05
5. Kevin Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer, University Health Network, $845,092.20
6. Phil Verster, President and Chief Executive Officer, Metrolinx, $838,960.91
7. Matthew Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, Ontario Health, $826,000.09
8. Mark Fuller, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ontario Public Service Pension Board, $805,247.28
9. Penny Sutcliffe, Medical Officer of Health, Public Health Sudbury And Districts, $800,726.37
10. Andy Smith, President and CEO, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, $799,614.79

To search the full list by sector, industry, name or salary, you can visit the province's website.