519-646-2222Fake News – Sunshine List
Media reporting has changed significantly over the years and, so called, fake news has become mainstream. It has become increasingly difficult to trust mainstream media for several reasons. Ownership or sponsorship of the media, Government interference, and increasingly careless journalism. Journalists grab sound bites without back checking or fact checking the validity of the information they report.
It has been widely reported that Ontario’s “Sunshine List” is growing but, hold on, not so fast. That is totally “fake news”. The list was set up in 1996 by the Mike Harris Tory Government, at inception the list was designed to disclose all government employees who were earning more than $100,000 per year.
We no longer live in 1996, we live in 2019 – twenty-four (24) years have passed since the original list was compiled and no adjustment for inflation has been factored into the calculations. $100,000 of money in 2019 is equal to $65,000 in 1996.
If the list is updated to reflect inflation the entry level to the “Sunshine List 2019” should be $153,000. When that adjustment is applied, suddenly we find that the sunshine has shrunk, very significantly. But don’t expect the media to own that mistake anytime soon.