On March 31, the Ontario Ministry of Finance released its annual Public Sector Salary Disclosure Report, the so-called "Sunshine Report". The report releases the names of all public servants who earn in excess of $100,000 a year. Year after year, the list grows longer and longer, while all taxpayers see are bigger tax bills. Unfortunately, this year is no exception, with over 22,000 employees named on the 1000-page list.

The worst offender this year was Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation (OPG). With close to 5,800 names, the two corporations had the most employees of any of the organizations on the list - yet together, they only employ 15,000 people. At the low end, a lines apprentice was listed as earning $107,999, while at the high end, OPG Acting President Richard DiCerni made $885,217 and Hydro One CEO and President Tom Parkinson broke the million-dollar barrier at $1,069,442. Taxpayers take note: that's the same Tom Parkinson who used the company helicopter to take trips to his cottage at public expense.

Also high on the list was the province's health sector, with over 2000 employees named. Over 40 were hospital presidents and CEOs who took in over $200,000, with 30 making more than $300,000 and nine receiving more than $400,000. Top earners included the President and CEO of St Michael's Hospital ($519,951), Mount Sinai Hospital ($594,690), and the University Health Network ($612,500). These figures do not include taxable benefits, which in some cases were in excess of $66,000.

Taxpayers have good reason to question this level of compensation. With thousands of families struggling to pay skyrocketing hydro bills, with health care waiting lists at an all-time high and hospitals claiming they can't balance their books, it's hard to justify some of these high salaries. Does the CEO of Hydro really merit a million dollars a year And when only three per cent of Canadian tax filers earn over $100,000 a year, why do over one third of Hydro and OPG employees pull in this kind of money

The list also reveals that the government pays handsomely to promote vice in the province, including selling Ontarians on the virtues of gambling and alcohol. The Chief of Marketing for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation made $200,496, while the Senior VP of Sales and Marketing for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) pulled in $176,653. Keeping booze in stock is also a lucrative job: four LCBO inventory managers made in excess of $100,000 a year. Unfortunately, the report doesn't say how much money taxpayers will have to pay to public health services to help problem gamblers and alcoholics kick their habits.

Finally, municipalities weren't exempt from high salaries of dubious value. For example, the City of Toronto paid a manager of video services for the Toronto Police $106,715 and shelled out $179,188 to a city librarian.

In a way, taxpayers can take some small comfort that these salaries are made public in the first place. Disclosure is the only way that public pressure can be brought to bear when public spending is out of line. But unless government takes a hard look at whether these salaries make sense, the sun can shine all it wants, yet taxpayers will still be left in the shadows.