NDP Leader Howard Hampton wants to know how Dalton McGuinty could have signed off on a deal that will pay 15 corporate executives at the province′s land registry office $90 million in cash payouts – an extraordinary amount of money that will come straight out of the pockets of Ontario′s working families.

“When people dig deep in their pockets to pay land registry fees, they trust the money′s going to pay for the services they actually receive. But today, working families learned
$90 million of their hard-earned money is going into the pockets of 15 corporate captains,” Hampton said.

“That′s $6 million per executive. That′s enough for a half dozen million-dollar mansions,
90 Porsche sports cars and it′s four times the pay package of Hydro One CEO Tom Parkinson. How could the premier possibly sign off on that?” the NDP Leader said.

The 15 executives are in line for the payout as part of a McGuinty-approved initial public offering of Teranet. The land registry system was privatized by the former Conservative government in 2003, with the full support of the McGuinty Liberals.

Hampton said privatization of public services or moving towards privatization almost always means working families paying outrageous executive pay packages.

“Here′s the problem with selling off public services. When we lose control and Bay Street takes over, essential services can be captured by a culture of greed, and then our working families end up on the hook for the gross executive salaries and pay packages we′ve seen over at hydro and now at Teranet,” Hampton said.

“People expect fair pay for workers. But a $90 million cash payout for 15 Teranet executives is wrong. The premier should stand up and say it′s wrong, and he should tell working families how he′s going to fix it,” the NDP Leader said.