Hydro One defends Parkinson's $3M severance
Last Updated: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 | 3:34 PM ET
CBC News
Hydro One had no choice but to pay former CEO Tom Parkinson $3 million in severance, the utility's chair told a legislative committee Tuesday.
"The facts of the matter are that the board agreed it would be in the best interest of the company to have him depart," Hydro One Chair Rita Burak said.
The embattled Parkinson stepped down after Ontario Auditor General Jim McCarter released a report last December questioning some personal expenses Parkinson allegedly charged to his secretary's corporate credit card.
Burak told the legislative committee that the utility board and Parkinson agreed he had to leave the utility after the auditor general's report on his expenses came out.
She says severance had to be paid because there were no legal grounds to fire Parkinson, and severance meant he would leave immediately.
The McGuinty Liberals faced scathing criticism from opposition parties over Parkinson's severance package and $1.5 million annual salary.
A review of executive salaries at Hydro One, Ontario Power Generation and other provincial energy agencies has been since announced.
The auditor general's report says the former CEO billed $45,000 in personal expenses to his secretary's corporate card, and then approved it himself.
With files from the Canadian PressShare Tools
Latest Toronto News Headlines
- Truck dangles on overpass after 401 crash in Ajax
- A section of Highway 401 is closed for hours after a tractor-trailer collides with an SUV, slides off the highway and hangs perilously over the roadway below. more »
- GO Transit train damaged by debris on tracks
- A GO Transit train is damaged after striking a short track section that appears to have been deliberately laid over the rails. more »
- Everest team unable to bring down Toronto woman's body
- Bad weather has hampered the recovery team that is attempting to bring down the body of a Toronto woman who died trying to climb Mt. Everest. more »
- Man shot dead in Oshawa
- A man in is mid-30s is dead after he was shot at a house in Oshawa on Friday night. more »
Top News Headlines
- Teen struck by lightning in Ottawa dies
- The victim of a Friday lightning strike during a storm in east Ottawa has died, CBC News has learned. more »
- Syrian children massacred by the dozens, UN says
- More than 90 people have been killed by regime forces in a district of central Syria, with the head of the UN team in the country confirming at least 32 children and 60 adults were killed in an artillery attack. more »
- Missing Winnipeg children found in Mexico
- Two Winnipeg children reported missing and possibly in Mexico have been found alive, according to unofficial reports from an agency that works to find missing people. more »
- Everest team unable to bring down Toronto woman's body
- Bad weather has hampered the recovery team that is attempting to bring down the body of a Toronto woman who died trying to climb Mt. Everest. more »
- Everest victim's husband says family not seeking government help
- Serial carjacker gets life term for fatal crash
- Highway 401 crash in Ajax closes eastbound lanes
- Timmins fire crews aided by calmer winds
- Toronto throws open its doors
- GO Transit train damaged by debris on tracks
- 'Gay-straight alliances' get green light under Ontario bill
- Man shot dead in Oshawa
- 'Save me' last words of Mount Everest climber
