Average annual pay of a top Canadian CEO: $7 million

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives reports that amidst the worldwide recession, Canada's top 100 CEOs were paid an average of $7.3 million in 2008.

A skip to the bank after lunch at 1pm on January 4th, and a top Canadian CEO will have earned the national average salary of approximately $42K. The Toronto Sun reports that an elite chief executive makes 174 times the average Canadian wage and stayed comfortably ahead of inflation by 70% from 1998 to 2008. An average income fell behind inflation by 6% in that same period. A few of the top earning CEOs include Thomas Glocer, Thomas Reuters Corp ($36.6 million), Ted Rogers, Rogers Communications ($21.5 million), Edmund Clark, TD Bank ($11.1 million), Frank Stronach, Magna International ($10.8 million), Louis Vachon, National Bank of Canada ($10.5 million), Richard Waugh, Bank of Nova Scotia ($9.6 million).