Five years after the Great Recession wiped out thousands of jobs, Canada’s top 100 chief executive officers continue to live in the “economic stratosphere,” a study says. (See chart of Top 50, below.)

Canada’s highest paid 100 CEOs earned an average of $7.9 million in 2012, a report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found.

In comparison, the average Canadian earned $46,634 that year, the study by the progressive think tank noted.

That means Canada’s top CEOs earned 171 times the average industrial wage, the report says.

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And while that’s not the most they’ve earned since 2008, when the rules on how stock options should be valued were changed, it’s also not the least. (In 2010, they earned $8.4 million on average, while in 2011 they earned $7.7 million. The fluctuations in part reflect swings in the value of stock options, and whether the list is headed by a single outsized earner.)

Despite the growing outcry among shareholders, the general public and politicians over the widening income gap between rich and poor and soaring executive pay, very little has changed, the report says.

“For me, the remarkable thing about the last two or three years is what’s not happening. What’s not happening is any moderation despite the focus on the 1 per cent, despite the constant stories about excessive executive compensation in the U.S., here and in Britain. Despite all of that pressure these salaries have been remarkably resilient,” says Hugh Mackenzie, an economist with the policy group.

Put another way: By 1:11 p.m. on Jan. 2, the top 100 CEOs will have earned as much as the average Canadian earns all year, according to the report called “All in a Day’s Work? CEO Pay in Canada”.

Indeed, all of the 100 highest paid CEOs plus the next 52 highest paid CEOs in Canada qualify to be in the top 0.01 per cent of income earners in Canada, a growing income gap that was the focus of the Occupy movement.

“There’s no recognized measure of corporate performance that bears any relationship to executive pay. They’re just getting what they can get,” Mackenzie adds.

The highest paid CEO in 2012 was E. Hunter Harrison, who was awarded nearly $49 million in total compensation by Canadian Pacific Railways Ltd.

Some of it was designed to offset benefits Harrison lost when his former employer CN Rail argued his hiring by a competitor violated his retirement agreement.

Harrison, who had been credited with turning around CN Rail, had been lured out of retirement at the insistence of Pershing Square hedge fund activist Bill Ackman to tackle CP’s deficiencies.

Harrison’s package at CP included $277,000 for personal use of a company aircraft, a pension guarantee of $16 million and a one-time “make whole” payment of $18.6 million to compensate for benefits he lost at CN.

“Sure, he’s driven changes that made money for the shareholders. But… there’s got to be some proportionality here,” Mackenzie says.

In comparison, Harrison’s predecessor at CP, Fred Green, who left in mid-year, received $8.8 million, including $4 million in severance.

In second place among Canada’s top 100 CEOs was James C. Smith, head of Thomson Reuters Corp., at $18.8 million.

In third and fourth place were the heads of two resource-based companies, John A. Manzoni, at Talisman Energy Inc., with $18.67 million, and Paul N. Wright, at Eldorado Gold Corp., at $18.66 million.

In fifth place was Donald J. Walker, chief executive of Magna International Inc., at $16.85 million. For the first time in several years, Magna founder Frank Stronach was not on the list though he received $40 million in compensation but it was part of a previously recorded exit package.

The heads of Canada’s five largest banks were among the top 30 CEOs listed in the report, led by Royal Bank of Canada chief Gordon M. Nixon at $13.73 million.

One notable development was the addition of two more women, up from just one woman a year earlier.

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Linda Hasenfratz, of Linamar Corp., and Dawn Farrell of TransAlta Corp., joined Nancy Southern, of ATCO Ltd., on the list of Canada’s highest paid executives.

The main driver of soaring CEO pay is grants of shares and stock options, the study says. The average share grant in 2012 was valued at $2.87 million, while the average stock option was valued at $2.17 million.

In the past five years, CEO compensation has come under intense scrutiny. More shareholders are moving “say on pay” resolutions designed to give them more clout in executive compensation decisions.

New regulations in the U.S. require corporations to disclose the ratio of CEO to employee compensation.

Yet, CEO pay in Canada, the U.S. and Britain has proven to be remarkably resilient, the report says.

There’s still no clear relationship between CEO compensation and corporate performance, the report concludes.

“There’s such a sense of entitlement. You get to play with other people’s money. And if you do well, you get a big chunk of it,” Mackenzie says.

What they got: Average pay of top 100 CEOs

Total compensation on average: $7.9 million

Base salary: $1 million

Cash bonuses: $1.73 million

Grants of company shares: $2.24 million

Stocks options: $1.69 million

Other compensation (“perks”): $754,000

Pension value increase: $533,000