The number of Ontario public sector workers earning more than $100,000 in 2010 jumped 11 per cent from the year before, according to numbers released Thursday.

Despite struggling with a provincial deficit of more than $16 billion, Ontario’s so-called sunshine list of provincial civil servants whose taxable earnings exceeded $100,000 last year rose to 71,478.

The top earner was Ontario Power Generation president Tom Mitchell, who took home more than $1.3 million last year.

In 2009, there were 64,132 people on the list.

Government sources told CBC News that while the number of people earning above the $100,000 mark has grown, the average salary of people on the list is one per cent lower than it was last year.

According to numbers from Statistics Canada, only 6.2 per cent of the overall Canadian population earns more than $100,000 a year. Government sources said about five per cent of the broader public-sector workforce made the latest sunshine list.

The Ontario government began releasing the list of $100,000-plus earners in 1995. The list includes any public servant whose salary is derived from provincial money, including municipalities.

Other higher earners last year included Canada's new Gov.-Gen. David Johnston, who earned a little more than $1 million as president of the University of Waterloo, and Laura Formusa, CEO of Hydro One, who earned $955,000.

Bob Bell, the CEO of University Health network, earned a salary and benefits totalling more than $830,000.

The McGuinty government ordered all provincial government-funded agencies this week to cut executive salaries and expenses by 10 per cent in the next two years.