Highest Paid in Nova Scotia's Public Sector (FY 2024-25)

Based on the FY 2024-25 disclosure · 17,072 total records · ranked by total compensation

The highest-paid person on Nova Scotia's FY 2024-25 Public Sector Compensation Disclosure is David Dingwall at Cape Breton University, with total compensation of $472,142.

Across the top 25, total compensation summed to about $9,661,762, drawn from 9 employers across 3 sectors. The average top-25 figure was about $386,470. Figures are total amounts actually paid during the fiscal year — salary plus overtime, lump-sum payouts, retroactive pay and severance — so a one-time payment can put someone at the top of the list for a single year.

Top 25 Highest Paid (FY 2024-25)

What This Disclosure Covers

Nova Scotia's Public Sector Compensation Disclosure Act (2010) requires each publicly funded body to publish the name and total compensation of everyone it paid $100,000 or more in the fiscal year ending March 31. It reaches the broader public sector: Nova Scotia Health and the IWK, the seven regional centres for education and the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial, every university and the Nova Scotia Community College, Crown corporations and agencies, and funded non-profits such as nursing homes.

What it does not cover is the core civil service: provincial departments do not file under the Act, so deputy ministers and departmental staff never appear. Nor are job titles published — the disclosure gives a name, an employer and a figure, and nothing else.

How Do the Top Earners Compare?

Across all 17,072 people disclosed in FY 2024-25, the average total compensation is $122,222. The #1 figure is roughly 4× that average. The top of the list is dominated by university presidents, hospital executives and salaried physicians — the bodies with the largest budgets and the most senior clinical and academic roles.

Sector Breakdown

What the Disclosure Doesn't Show

The $100,000 threshold has not changed since the Act was passed in 2010 and is not indexed to inflation, so the number of people disclosed tends to grow with ordinary wage settlements rather than with real pay increases. The figures exclude the employer-paid share of pensions and benefits, and because they are amounts paid rather than annual salaries, year-over-year comparisons for an individual should be made with caution. Read more in our Nova Scotia Health & IWK and university salaries articles.