Ontario Sunshine List is released every year and it reveals the salaries of public sector workers who take home a salary in excess of $100,000. This year the list features 300,570 names which is 30,000 higher than last year of public sector employees with salaries over $100,000. The Ontario Sunshine list also features five employees working at the Ontario Power Generation who are among the top 10 earners with the province’s highest salary nearing $2 million.

Ontario had passed the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act in 1996 under the Mike Harris government and the stated aim of the act was to make the government more transparent and accountable. The $100,000 limit was a big deal then.

However the $100,000 in 1996 in relative terms in 2024 will be equivalent to $180,564.97. If you remove 300,570 people on this year’s Ontario Sunshine List for that salary threshold there you drop 279,781 names. In other words there will be many people who will not be able to own a house without help from family or an inheritance.

In a nutshell it means that employees who take home a six figure salary package will still feel the pinch of Canada’s affordability crisis. The soaring inflation and rising cost of living a $100,000 salary doesn’t guarantee financial security in many parts of the country.

Also, to maintain the $100,000 threshold today, the province should have adjusted it to $55,381.73 in 1996. Ontario has fixed a threshold of $100,000, while the threshold varies in other provinces. Alberta, for example, has set a threshold of $125,888 for government employees and $150,219 for people in public sector bodies.

Not much information is available for the federal government, but a Canadian Taxpayers Federation access-to-information request revealed that 110,593 employees in the federal public service earned $100,000 or more in 2023.

There are a couple of options for Ontario and other governments with non-indexing disclosure requirements. Resetting the threshold to a number that makes more sense today and then continuing to index the threshold going forward seems feasible.

We also don’t need to reveal the names of all individuals. The government could report aggregated salary ranges by job title rather than disclosing specific names below a second, lower threshold. This would maintain government accountability and transparency by still disclosing who the highest earners are.

As it stands, we have a list that publishes the names and salaries of potentially hundreds of thousands of people who could not afford to buy a house. This doesn’t seem aligned with the original intent of the disclosure act.

Some features of the Ontario Sunshine List 2024 are as follows:

• The highest paid employee took a pay check of $1.9M
• Public sector employees were paid salaries in excess of $100K
• The Ontario Sunset list top position is held by Kenneth Hartwick, CEO of the electricity Crown Corporation with a salary of $1.93 million followed by chief strategy officer Dominique Miniere $1.2 million and chief projects officer Michael Martelli drawing $1 million as salary.
• Public sector workers were paid counting in Bill 124 compensation
• 2024 budget revealed that Ontario deficit will triple
• CEOs of the Hospital for Sick Children and the University Health Network figured in the top 10 list and each drew a salary of $850,000 each while CEO of the provincial transit agency, Metrolinx drew a salary of $838,097.
• 17 professors or associate professors at the University of Toronto drew a salary in excess of $500,000

Caroline Mulroney, president of the Treasury Board, stated in a release,

“The largest year-over-year increases were in the hospitals, municipalities, and services, and post-secondary sectors, which together represented approximately 80 percent of the growth of the list.”

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Meteor Showers evokes both fantasy and awe and often when we see a meteor which is also sometimes referred as a shooting star we make a wish and hope that it is fulfilled. However meteors are an unpredictable phenomenon but wait what if someone says that today a star gazer can see up to 40 meteor showers in an hour?  Sounds like fiction but it is true.

What is an Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower Event?

Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower are the remnants of the Halley’s comet which left a trail of debris as it made its long and elliptical journey around the Sun. Halley comet visits the solar system once in 75 to 79 years. Last time it visited the solar system was in 1986 and it is expected to return in 2061. The comet as it enters the inner solar system and nears the sun, its ice layers break off as a long tail. The debris remains in the solar system long after the comet has returned to deep space. When the Earth passes through this debris left by the comet, a meteor shower event occurs. There are two annual meteor shower events which happen every year- the Eta Aquarids in May and the Orionids in October.

The Eta Aquarids meteor showers are spectacular and the meteors which move incredibly fast at speeds in excess of 44 miles per second leave glowing trains behind them which are a sight to watch.The space rocks travel at high speeds into the atmosphere where friction heats them up until they start to burn and leave a fiery trail behind. Most meteors will burn while they enter the earth’s atmosphere but some rocks survive this fiery ordeal and land on earth. They are known as meteorites.

 Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower, May 2024 Date

The ETA Meteor Showers are best viewed in the Southern Hemisphere where the number can reach 40 to 50 meteors per hour. The Meteor shower starts from April 15 but its peak will be reached on May 5th and 6th. The shower will originate more from the Aquarius constellation and  hence  the name Eta Aquariid’.

Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower 2024 Timing

The meteor shower is more likely to be visible in the night sky from 2:00 a.m. local time. From then on, the rates will continue to increase until dawn. However the visibility will be dependent on how much the sky is clear and there should be minimum light pollution. It is best to view the showers in the rural location since both pollution of the air and illumination by street lights are minimal.

A Texas family whose house was devastated on Thursday by a tornado is currently requesting for support. In the wake of this, a GoFundMe page has been launched.

According to Times Now, the Texas Tornado hitting Oklahoma and Iowa on Thursday has killed at least 5 individuals, including a baby. 

The family has been identified as Kasey and Wes Lambert, and their children, Allie and Lane, are currently seeking donations. 

Their GoFundMe campaign’s caption reads,

“Hi, my name is Bradye McQueen, and I am helping coordinate the recovery for my cousin and her family. Wes & Kasey Lambert, and their kids Lane and Allie. They will need funds to help with the transition and rebuilding their lives and cover ER bills.”

Who is Freddy McKinney in Limelight?

The bravery of a storm chaser Freddy McKinney is everywhere on the internet. He is being appreciated for his heroics when he helped a family in need following a tornado that destroyed the latter’s Texas home. 

On May 2, Thursday, in Hodges, Freddy McKinney was live-streaming and chasing a tornado.  

There, right before his eyes, he witnessed a large pile of water obliterating a house. This incident occurred on County Road 458. 

The entire incident was captured on McKinney’s live YouTube page. It featured the YouTuber approaching the damage. The tornado was at a safe distance away. 

When McKinney stopped in the middle, he saw a bunch of people running up the street. He witnessed a woman carrying a baby in her arms. 

He shouted, “Get in!” as the members of the family were approaching his vehicle. Then he asked a woman to enter his vehicle. 

Subsequently, her son and husband followed shortly. 

Freddy McKinney drove the entire family to a nearby healthcare center. 

What Happened Next?

A relative of the family, Bradye Lynn McQueen, shared hospital photos on Friday by extending gratitude to McKinney for his bravery, reported People.

She stated,

“Thank you, Freddy, for taking care of my cousin & her family. We are all so grateful you were out there. As an update for everyone, they are very banged up, but they have all been discharged & are spending the night at grandparents’.”

The YouTuber replied,

“I’ve never met a more courageous family in my life. Kasey and Wes, you guys are absolutely rock stars. I’m so glad you guys are doing better. Thank you for sharing this update, Bradye.”

Notably, until now, the GoFundMe campaign has raised $85,669 USD out of a target of achieving a goal of $100,000.

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