Mohawk College lobbies for a big pay hike for its President

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Mohawk College’s President is not likely to get the 54% raise his institution requested for him.

Ontario’s minister responsible for higher education is giving colleges a second chance to pass a new test. Colleges were asked to come up with their own funding formulas for executive salaries, after a five-year pay freeze but Deb Matthews says the numbers proposed were not fair or realistic.

Mohawk College says its President is among the lowest paid in the GTA.
“We’re one of those colleges that actually lost a President to a hospital, so when you have great people, they’re in short supply and high demand. We just want to make sure we don’t lose those people.” Jay Robb, Mohawk College.

Ron McKerlie took over at Mohawk College after it lost former Burlington Mayor Rob Macisaac to Hamilton Health Sciences. McKerlie was a deputy government minister who had been appointed to turn around Ornge air ambulance after a financial scandal, appointed by Deb Matthews, who is now Minister of Advanced Education and concerned about the salary hikes proposed for people like McKerlie.

She says some colleges compared themselves to far bigger and more complicated organizations, even though most are faced with declining enrolment and revenue. That’s not the case at Mohawk.

“We have record enrolment. Our numbers are strong. We’re out of space, which is why you see construction.”

Ron McKerlie made about $270 000 last year, so his proposed 54% raise would put him up over $400 000 a year but Mohawk says the board wouldn’t have approved that amount, it was simply the top end of the range.

McKerlie took a $100 000 pay cut to go to Mohawk, according to the Sunshine list. He also sits on the board at Mohawk, but doesn’t collect income from that role, or vote on his own salary, according to the college.