The opposition turned up the heat on Ontario's Liberal government Tuesday over a former deputy health minister's $762,000 salary that was buried in a Hamilton hospital's budget.

Confidentially rules prevent the government from saying why Ron Sapsford received the payment last year after he quit amid the eHealth scandal in 2009, said Premier Dalton McGuinty.

"I can't speak to the details [because] it's a human resources issue and there are confidentiality provisions associated with these, and perhaps understandably so," said McGuinty. "That's all I can really say."

The money is believed to be severance, but McGuinty would not say why it was paid by Hamilton Health Sciences or why severance was given after Sapsford quit his job.

The New Democrats accused the Liberals of trying to hide Sapsford's salary in the budget of the Hamilton hospital corporation.

"In Hamilton, people want to know why Ron Sapsford was paid as much as he was and why his compensation was buried in the records of Hamilton Health Sciences," said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. "Is this premier prepared to give us a good explanation or will he continue to duck and cover, and hope it all blows over?"

The Liberals had made salaries like Sapsford's and others on secondment from public agencies more transparent by publishing them in two different sections of the sunshine list of public sector workers paid over $100,000, said McGuinty.

"Remember before it was not under the Ministry of Health, now it is specifically under the Ministry of Health section as well as the hospital section," he said. "The reason that we're talking about it because it is in fact public."

McGuinty didn't explain said why Sapsford's salary was listed under the Hamilton hospital instead of the ministry for which he worked.

The Progressive Conservatives said McGuinty gave Sapsford a "backroom deal" equal to winning the lottery.

"Premier, why won't you come clean with Ontario families?" Opposition Leader Tim Hudak said in the legislature. "Just tell us simply, just tell us in a straightforward manner, why do they continue to pay for your backroom deals stemming from the eHealth scandal?"

Health Minister Deb Matthews rejected suggestions Sapsford's salary and benefits — which totalled about $500,000 in 2009 — were hidden in the budget of the Hamilton hospital for years to get around guidelines limiting a deputy minister's pay to $220,150.

"I cannot speak to the arrangement that he had," said Matthews. "What I can tell you now is that the deputy that's currently in place falls under those guidelines."

Sapsford was a key player in eHealth Ontario, the agency that spent $1 billion to develop electronic health records but had little to show for it after years of work. He quit government just days after being grilled about the scandal by a legislative committee.

Sapsford, who worked at Hamilton Health Sciences until moving to government in 2005, refused to comment on the payout while the hospital would not say why his salary was still on its budget.

The $762,000 paid to Sapsford "is a lot of money," conceded Matthews.

"I can tell you that I am concerned when I see the levels of compensation in the health sector ... and we have taken steps to address that," she said. "Hospital executives will be responsible for reducing the executive expenditures by 10 per cent over the next two years."