The man who keeps the lights on shines brightest on the new Sunshine List of Ontario public sector workers earning $100,000 or more, which grew by six per cent, or 7,460 people, in the last year.

Jeffrey Lyash, the president and CEO of Ontario Power Generation, again topped the annual compendium released Friday, this time with a pay boost just shy of $400,000 from 2016.

Responsible for overseeing the country’s largest fleet of nuclear reactors and the 10-year, $12.8-billion refurbishment of the Darlington nuclear plant, Lyash earned $1,554,457 in 2017 in salary and performance bonus, according to the list, which comprises seven volumes, stacked as high as an extra-large coffee cup.

“The Darlington refurbishment is on time and on budget, which is attributable to Jeff’s leadership and the team he has selected to manage the project. This saves ratepayers money,” Ontario Power Generation said.

Employees of Hydro One are no longer subject to public sector salary disclosure, because the Wynne govenment has partially privatized the former Crown corporation, but its chief executive Mayo Schmidt earns $4.4 million.

A record 131,741 workers in the broader public sector made six figures, running the gamut from chief executives of hospitals and universities to front-line police and TTC staff, many of them in the $100,000-club because of overtime.

With a provincial election looming June 7, opposition parties hoping to topple Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals were eager to pounce.

“I just can’t believe it,” Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford said of the compensation hike for Lyash, who gets base pay of $775,000.

“For the hard working people of Ontario, there’s nothing sunny about this list,” Ford told a news conference at Queen’s Park, promising to review pay levels “from top to bottom” and improve “respect for taxpayers” if elected premier.

But the Liberals said the number of City of Toronto employees on the Sunshine List more than doubled to 11,282 during the four years ending in 2014 while Ford was a councillor and his late brother, Rob Ford, was mayor.

“Doug Ford needs to be clear that he has a double standard when it comes to criticizing employees on the sunshine list,” the governing party stated in a news release.

New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath said the highest salaries on the list are outrageous given that there’s not enough money to prevent sick and injured Ontarians from waiting for medical treatment in emergency room hallways.

“Meanwhile, Ontario’s top 10 executives are raking in millions —money that should be invested into the healthcare services that Ontario families need,” Horwath, who earned $158,158 as head Ontario’s third political party, said in a statement.

The lowest salary in the top 10 was $718,300 and the highest-paid woman was Jill Pepall, executive vice-president and chief investment officer of the Ontario Public Service Pension Board.

Inflation is a major factor in the list, launched 22 years ago by former PC premier Mike Harris. Accounting for the ever-rising cost of living, $100,000 in 1996 is the equivalent of about $152,000 now — and $100,000 today would have been around $67,000 back then.

Despite that, politicians have never expressed interest in raising the bar for entry into the Sunshine List, although Ford said “it’s not the people that are making $100,000” that bothers him.

Premier Kathleen Wynne said “the threshold is not changing.”

“To the vast majority of people in Ontario $100,000 a year is still a lot of money,” Wynne told reporters at the Hospital for Sick Children on Friday.

“We think people in the province have a right to know what folks are earning,” added the premier, whose salary is frozen at $208,974.

However, a union representing professional and supervisory civil servants urged Wynne to strike names from the list after a member’s personal safety was put in jeopardy when a stalker used it to harass her at the government ministry where she works.

The woman “had taken significant steps to protect herself and her family, including moving cities and assuming a new name,” said union president Dave Bulmer, noting the government “gave her stalker all the information he needed to harass her again.”

As outlined on the sunshine list, cabinet ministers earn $165,851 and the base salary for MPPs is $116,500. Ousted PC leader Patrick Brown’s salary was $180,856. MPPs no longer have a pension plan, which was axed by the Harris government.

If the Sunshine List’s threshold had been adjusted for inflation since its inception 22 years ago, the number of employees on it would be just under 20,000.

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Big earners rounding out the top 10 included:

Daren Smith, president and chief investment office, University of Toronto Asset Management Corp., $936,089.

Glen Jager, nuclear president and chief nuclear officer, Ontario Power Generation, $858,445.

Bruce Campbell, president and chief executive Independent Electricity System Operator, $745,211.

Mark Fuller, president and chief executive, Ontario Public Service Pension Board, $745,211.

Martin Scott, senior vice-president business and administration, Ontario Power Generation, $739,854.

William Reichman, president and chief executive, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, $722,875.

Jill Pepall, executive vice-president and chief information officer, Ontario Public Service Pension Board, $721,224.

Michael Apkon, president and chief executive, Hospital for Sick Children, $719,694.

Peter Pisters, president and chief executive, University Health Network, $718,300.

Many of Toronto’s list of top earners in 2017 are heading out the door early this year, including departing city manager Peter Wallace, who topped the city’s earnings list as top bureaucrat. Wallace made $350,077. The former Ontario Public Service boss is leaving to be federal treasury board secretary.

Andy Byford, who left the helm of the TTC to run New York’s transit system, made $346,791, while Toronto police chief Mark Saunders, earned $337,744 last year.

The Toronto Police Service continued to be the best paid city division, with 4,828 officers and civilians on the force making more than $100,000.

As in 2016, the highest paid constable was Abdulhameed Virani, who earned $245,611 plus benefits as a result of overtime pay — almost as much as a deputy chief and more than any of his other superiors. A constable’s base pay is $94,949.

With files from Jennifer Pagliaro

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