Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath Paid $272,392.27 in 2023, Among the Highest Mayoral Salaries in Canada – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

March 24, 2024
Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath’s remuneration for 2023 was $272,392.27, including a base salary of $212,392.27 and a $60,000 payment from Alectra Utilities.
The City of Hamilton released the annual Council and Local Board compensation reports on Friday, as required by Section 284 of the Municipal Act.
Across Canada, mayors of major cities are paid much less.
Calgary’s mayor is paid an annual salary of $213,737, Edmonton $216,585, Ottawa $198,702, Toronto $216,160, and Vancouver $205,914 plus $25,000 for sitting on the regional transit board.
The Premier of Ontario is paid $208,974 annually. Ontario cabinet ministers are paid $165,850. Members of Provincial Parliament are paid $116,500.
In suburban municipalities west of Toronto, local politicians collect base pay plus extra remuneration for their roles overseeing municipal corporations.
Alectra, the local hydro utility which services large portions of Hamilton, Niagara, Peel, York, and Barrie, gives municipal politicians a top-up of $60,000 per year for sitting on its board.
Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti collected $278,474 in 2023. He was paid $150,381 as mayor, $62,093 for sitting on York Regional Council, and added $57,500 from Alectra and $8,500 from Markham District Energy Inc.
Former Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie made $255,233.22 in 2023: $129,438.53 as mayor, $54,484.22 as a regional councillor, $56,250 from Alectra, and $15,060.47 for sitting on the police board.
(Crombie took unpaid leave of absence on October 6, 2023 to run for Ontario Liberal Party leader. She resumed mayoral duties the first week of December and resigned in January.)
Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca reported a salary of $225,277.04 between the City of Vaughan and the Region of York. Neither the Region or City disclosures report any payments from Alectra Utilities. (TPR has emailed Vaughan’s City Clerk to confirm)
York Regional Chair Wayne Emmerson reported a salary of $257,858 for 2023, he did not report any additional pay.
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown made $225,259.99 in 2023: $149,022.06 as mayor, $61,108.65 as a regional councillor, and $15,129.28 for sitting on the Peel Regional Police Services Board.
Peel Regional Chair Nando Iannicca made $216,804.34 in 2023: $198,331.15 as chair and $18,473.19 for sitting on the police board.
Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter made $198,399.59 in 2023: $132,563 from Oshawa, 59,866.37 for sitting on Durham Regional Council, and $5,970.22 for sitting on the Durham Region Police Services Board.
(Carter received an additional $5,229.83 in lieu of pension from Durham Region. Durham Region does not provide a pension plan to politicians. Other municipal councils provide themselves with pensions.)
Durham Regional Chair John Henry was paid $209,106.29 in 2023: $204,606.29 as Regional Chair, and $4,500 from Durham OneNet Inc.  (Henry received an additional $25,728.92 in lieu of pension.)
Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall reported receiving $60,000 from Alectra, topping up his $129,621.85 salary for a total of $189,621.85.
Mayor Andrea Horwath’s two-week July 2023 Sister City trip to Racalmuto, Sicily, Italy, cost the City of Hamilton $4,872.35 for the mayor’s travel, accommodation, and per diem.
Members of the public and punditry heavily criticized the trip. Horwath met with municipal officials in Italy and attended various cultural events.
In July, a spokesperson for the Mayor stated the trip cost $4,505.30 for flights and accommodation.
The Section 284 disclosure states flights were $2,952.49, accommodation was $859.20, and the mayor received a per diem of $1,060.66. The per diem is in accordance with City of Hamilton travel policies.
Mayor Horwath attended three conferences in 2023: the Ontario Big City Mayors (OBCM) annual general meeting in Kitchener, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) annual conference, and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference.
In total, conference expenses totalled $3,643.15.
The Mayor expensed $394.84 for accommodation to attend a Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative training session in July.
Mayor Horwath expensed $1,894 for meals and meetings, and $685 for tickets to community events.