Premier Dalton McGuinty must cap the soaring salaries of hospital executives or risk jeopardizing Ontario's health-care system with the layoff of hundreds of front-line workers, critics said Tuesday.

The call comes after a union revealed that a hospital executive in the Toronto area pocketed nearly $3 million in compensation over five years, including two years of double-digit increases.

The salary of Dan Carriere, CEO of Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, has climbed to $785,000, according to the Service Employees International Union. Hospital staff have been without a contract since last August.

"Ontario families want to see responsible, smart health reform that protects patients and front-line services, but instead we see cancer patients left without support," NDP Leader Andrea Horwath told the legislature.

A spokesperson for Southlake hospital was not immediately available to comment on Carriere's salary.

But the NDP say McGuinty has a clear choice: either cap executive salaries or allow further layoffs among front-line health-care workers.

The premier seemed reluctant to cap executive pay, saying it's up to hospital boards to control their salaries.

"I'm not familiar with the details — it's the first time it's been brought to my attention," McGuinty said in Oshawa after touring the GM plant.

"Obviously, hospital boards make decisions regarding compensation for their executives."

McGuinty noted that all elected politicians in Ontario will have their pay frozen for two more years, and he's asked everyone who draws from the public purse to do the same.

"We think that's a fair thing to do under the circumstances," he said. "We're running a $21.3-billion deficit. It's going to take us some time to get out of that."

Compensation bill in works

Health Minister Deb Matthews said she, too, was unfamiliar with the details of Carriere's salary but promised that legislation to address compensation concerns is in the works.

"We are looking very carefully at how can we tie compensation to quality," she said. "That's what we're committed to doing."

Tying executive bonuses to hospital performance, such as lowering wait times or infection rates, was among measures promised in last month's throne speech as the government took aim at skyrocketing health-care costs.

The promised legislation comes amid concerns over rising hospital deficits, emergency room closures and lingering resentment over the eHealth scandal, in which $1 billion was spent to develop electronic health records with very little to show for it.

Even though provincial law forbids hospitals from running deficits, about 40 per cent couldn't balance their books last spring, according to the Ontario Hospital Association.

The Ontario Nurses Association says 2,045 nurses have received pink slips in the past 12 months, and its members aren't seeing new jobs created in the community to offset that loss.

Groups protested the exploding salaries of hospital executives with rallies in Belleville and Barrie last week.