The minister in charge of Ontario’s post-secondary education says he is “paying attention” to college presidents earning half a million dollars, but has no concrete plans to rein in executive compensation.

The five highest-paid college leaders in the province earned an average of $507,000 in 2025, according to data on the annual sunshine list, a year in which hundreds of staff were laid off.

Nolan Quinn, the minister of colleges, universities, research excellence and security, said he was aware of top executive pay — and monitoring it after his government announced billions in new funding for the sector.

“We’re looking at everything,” he told Global News. “We want to ensure they’re in line with the sector in that regard and if anyone’s out of line with the sector average in that regard, we will be paying attention to that.”

John Tibbits, the recently-departed president of Conestoga College, topped the list of best-paid college executives with $601,684 in pay last year. That’s down from the $636,106.70 he earned in 2024, but still substantially higher than $494,716.07 in 2023.

Get daily National news

Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.

Quinn singled out Tibbits for criticism, suggesting his salary was a key concern for the ministry.

“If there’s an outlier, specifically the one you’ve mentioned at Conestoga, we want to ensure the $6.4-billion investment is going to student services and front line services for our students,” Quinn said.

“We will be paying attention not only to Conestoga but to all our institutions.”

Maureen Adamson of Fleming College earned the second-highest salary of any college president at $512,428. She also recently left her role at the top of the college — her pay jumping 43 per cent in her final year of service.

Humber College’s president pulled in around $497,000 in 2025, while the head of Seneca earned just over $476,000. The president of Mohawk College made $445,166.97 in 2025, the lowest paid of the top five.

Critics suggested the government, which funds and regulates the college sector, should be taking a more active role in ensuring the pay of those at the top is proportionate to the tough decisions being taken in the sector.

“Absolutely, I want to see CEOs (and presidents) reigned in,” Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said.

“At the same time that they’re cutting 10,000 jobs in our college sector, CEOs’ salaries remain that high? I think we need to look at what the priorities are. That’s on the government to make those calls.”

Quinn, however, said he wouldn’t be taking formal action on the issue.

“At this point, we will just be paying attention to how compensation is taking place for our senior leadership at our post-secondary institutions,” he said.

“But recognizing that was egregious, the amount of money that that leader was making during these times of our post-secondary institutions.”

Ontario Liberal MPP Stephanie Bowman suggested college presidents should be cognizant of how salaries could look in years with high layoffs.

“I think they owe people an answer for the level of salary increases that some of those presidents have,” she said.

“They need to make sure they’re spending taxpayer money responsibly.”

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.