Tues Mar 31 – Local News, Events & Editorial Opinion

News and updates from Owen Sound, Hanover, Chatsworth, Meaford, Saugeen Shores, and more across Grey and Bruce counties

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EDITORIAL OPINION

Ontario’s latest Sunshine List is out, and it now includes a record 404,922 public sector employees, up from 377,881 last year.

At face value, it suggests an explosion in six-figure salaries. But here’s the problem: the $100,000 threshold hasn’t changed since the disclosure was launched in 1996.

Adjusted for inflation, that figure would be closer to $182,000 today. So what was once meant to flag top earners now captures a wide range of mid-career professionals — including many working in healthcare, education, and municipal government.

Ontario’s Sunshine List has grown nearly 100-fold in size since it was introduced, while wages (and certainly purchasing power) have not kept pace in the same way.

In Owen Sound, applying a modern threshold dramatically changes the picture of who is actually earning at the highest levels, and how public sector dollars are distributed.

So that’s what we’ve done:

City of Owen Sound Salaries: What the Sunshine List Really Shows

There is a real public interest in transparency, and real benefit to the accountability behind the concept of the disclosure. But when the benchmark no longer reflects reality, it risks distorting it.

So instead of asking how many people are on the list, a more useful question might be:

Share your vote above, and we welcome letters to the editor of 500 words or less emailed to owensoundcurrenteditor@gmail.com

Public Notice

• Hanover police looking for missing woman

• Guelph-Owen Sound Transit (GOST) Bus Service Extended Through August 31, 2026

Keep Reading

… for weather updates, obituaries, upcoming local events, and the most comprehensive weekday reporting on what’s happening in Owen Sound, and across Grey & Bruce.

Today, we have news and updates including a police crackdown on open drug use in Owen Sound, who made the Sunshine List across Grey & Bruce, charges for a local man who attempted to avoid a RIDE check, a look ahead at the upcoming BiblioArts Print & Book Fair, and a lot more.

Miranda Miller
Editor

Local News