In a surprise Friday afternoon move during a pandemic that has crippled the province, the Ontario government released the annual “Sunshine List” of public servants earning $100,000 or more.

By law, the annual public sector salary disclosure must be done by March 31 so this year’s list was 11 days early.

There were 166,977 public servants, including hydro workers, bureaucrats, teachers, police officers, TTC employees and others, who cracked the six-figure threshold last year – a 10.4 per cent increase over 151,197 in 2018.

“Our government’s priority is the health and safety of all Ontarians and we are singularly focused on our response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Treasury Board President Peter Bethlenfalvy, who is himself in isolation with symptoms of the virus.

“However, our government has also made commitments to the people of Ontario on transparency, accountability and respecting their tax dollars,” said Bethlenfalvy.

“We have taken positive steps and seen real results, but we must continue working hard to ensure each dollar spent gets the best results for Ontarians,” he said.

This list is the first one that is completely on Premier Doug Ford’s watch because his Progressive Conservatives took power from former premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals midway through 2018.

As usual, the highest paid civil servant is the person who keeps the lights on. Ontario Power Generation president and CEO Jeffrey Lyash, who left last year to head the Tennessee Valley Authority, made $938,845.

Lyash’s successor at the helm of OPG, Kenneth Hartwick, took home $929,763.

The third highest-paid civil servant last year was Kevin Smith, the president and CEO of the University Health Network, who earned $844,992.

OPG vice-president of nuclear projects, Dietmar Reiner, made $837,074.

The University of Toronto’s asset management corporation president Daren Smith, took home $800,074.

Rounding out the top 10, which included no women: Mark Fuller, president and CEO of the Ontario Public Service Pension Board at $797,575; Sean Granville, OPG deputy chief nuclear officer, $792,195; Mike Martelli, OPG president of renewable generation, $787,751; Stephen Rigby, who recently stepped down as president and CEO of Ontario Lottery and Gaming, $762,458; and Timothy Rutledge, president of CEO of Unity Health, $754,413.

Most of the growth in Sunshine List earners — 15,780 in all — was in the broader public sector outside the provincial civil service.

Ford’s former chief of staff, Dean French, who parted ways with the premier after a cronyism scandal last June made $191,444 in the six months he was on the job last year.

One public servant who is now a familiar face to Ontarians in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic is Dr. David Williams, the province’s chief medical officer of health.

Williams, who has won plaudits for his calm demeanour during the crisis, made $413,776 last year.

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Inflation is a main reason that the Sunshine List continues to swell each year.

Introduced in 1996 by former Tory premier Mike Harris, the threshold for inclusion has never been adjusted.

The equivalent of $100,000 in 1996 would have been $152,670 last year, according to the Bank of Canada.

Similarly, $100,000 in 2019 was equal to $65,500 in 1996.

Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie

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