Article content

Public sector salary freezes have shrunk the list that discloses Alberta’s top earners paid on the public dime.

The sunshine list for public service employees has diminished by almost 35 per cent since 2015, falling to 2,661 employees from 4,054 employees.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Alberta sunshine list shrinks amidst continued salary freeze Back to video

It’s somewhat of a trend, with the list comprising 3,361 in 2017 and 3,551 employees in 2016.

Postmedia was not granted an interview with Finance Minister Travis Toews as to why the list keeps getting shorter, but his press secretary Jerrica Goodwin said in an email it’s primarily because of salary restraint for all management and non-union Alberta public sector employees.

While the list’s disclosure threshold has increased based on the Alberta Consumer Price Index (as per legislation), salaries have been restrained since April 1, 2016.

“This means the number of disclosed salaries generally decreases,” Goodwin said.

Goodwin said the number of pay periods also affected the list, with 27 in 2015 compared to 26 in 2016, 2017 and 2018.