Deb Matthews, Ontario's Minister of Colleges & Skills Training, says the boards that govern colleges in this province need to "go back to the drawing board" before the provincial government will lift a 4-year-long salary freeze on its executives.
The proposal could have netted some senior administrators pay raises of more than 50 percent in 2017; in some cases more than $100,000 per year.
Colleges are posting their executive compensation proposals under new rules that came into force in September.
Matthews says the comparable cases that were presented by the boards are "unacceptable," adding that some institutions argued that their executives should be compared to those who run enterprises as much as 10 times their size.
Matthews would not be pinned down on what she thinks acceptable compensation for these administrators might be, but she did concede that she would have no problem comparing those managers to those who run some of Ontario's smaller universities.
She admits that public sector pay is "a really tough issue," but defended the salaries paid to college adminstrators by saying that the provincial government is trying to strike a balance between retaining top talent, while working within a "reasonable" budget.
Matthews says the amounts posted were the maximum of a salary ranges.
In memo to college boards, she has asked them to be more transparent as to what compensation would be.
(with files from The Canadian Press)