A new list of the highest paid CEOs in Canada includes captains of industry, oil, finance and media–but surprisingly few grocery executives.
Only five food retail and consumer packaged goods company heads are among the Top 100 highest-paid CEOs list compiled by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
According to the CCPA, the highest paid grocery executive in Canada is Alain Bouchard (pictured), founder and chairman of convenience store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard.
Bouchard came in at No. 44 on the list. His earnings (base salary plus other compensation) totalled $7.9 million.
Paviter Binning, president of George Weston Limited, came in the 48th spot, earning more than $7.8 million.
Vicente Trius, the former president of Loblaw Companies, was in the 78th position with a compensation package of $5.2 million. Also earning $5.2 million was Michael McCain, the president of Maple Leaf Foods, in 79th spot.
The only other grocery executive to crack the Top 100 was Galen Weston, earning $4.7 million as executive chairman at Loblaw, good enough for 91st spot on the list. (Weston replaced Trius as president of Loblaw last year.)
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives list was compiled in a new report, "Glory Days: CEO Pay in Canada Soaring to Pre-Recession Highs."
Among the report’s finding: the average pay of the Top 100 CEOs was $9.2 million, based on 2013 earnings. That’s more than 190 times the average Canadian income of $47,358.
The highest paid CEO, according to the report, was Gerry Schwartz, the head of Onex Corporation.
His income: $87.9 million. That's 18 times what Weston earned at Loblaw, by the way.