Common questions about Nova Scotia's Public Sector Compensation Disclosure and this site.
What is the Nova Scotia Public Sector Compensation Disclosure?
Nova Scotia's Public Sector Compensation Disclosure Act, passed in 2010, requires more than a hundred public sector bodies to publish the name and total compensation of every person they paid $100,000 or more during the fiscal year. Unlike most provinces there is no single combined list: each body files its own audited statement, and the province publishes them together in one online collection.
What is the disclosure threshold?
$100,000 of compensation paid during the fiscal year (April 1 – March 31). It has not changed since the Act took effect in 2010 and is not indexed to inflation, so the number of people disclosed grows every year simply because wages rise past a fixed line.
Which employers are covered?
The broader public sector: Nova Scotia Health and the IWK Health Centre, the seven regional centres for education and the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial, the universities and the Nova Scotia Community College, crown corporations such as the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation and Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Agency, and a long tail of publicly funded non-profits, nursing homes and housing corporations.
What is NOT included?
The core civil service. Provincial government departments do not file under the Act, so deputy ministers and departmental staff do not appear here — the same situation as Alberta, whose disclosure covers agencies, boards and commissions rather than ministries. Municipalities and the federal government are also outside the Act.
What do the dollar figures represent?
Total compensation actually paid during the fiscal year, on a cash basis. The Act's definition includes salary and wages plus overtime, bonuses, retirement or severance payments, lump-sum and vacation payouts, and several taxable benefits. Employer-paid pension and benefit contributions are generally excluded.
Why can the same person's total change a lot year to year?
Because the figure is what was paid that year, not an annual salary. A severance payment, a retroactive settlement or a large vacation payout lands entirely in the year it is paid and can push someone far above their usual pay. Nova Scotia paid out frozen public-sector service awards as lump sums in 2018 and 2019, which is why those years show a noticeably larger group of people above the threshold.
Why are there no job titles?
Most bodies publish only a name and an amount. A few include a position or employee-category column, but too few to show consistently, so this site does not display job titles for Nova Scotia.
What years are available on this site?
The fiscal years ending 2017 through 2025. Because each body files separately, a given year's coverage depends on which bodies had filed by the time the data was collected; a small number of statements report that nobody at that organization reached $100,000.
How do I find a specific person?
Use the Data Explorer to search by first or last name. You can also filter by employer, sector, year, and compensation range.
Is this site affiliated with the Government of Nova Scotia?
No. This is an independent tool for exploring publicly available data, compiled from the disclosure statements published at novascotia.ca and updated as new fiscal years are released.
Do you have data for other provinces?
Yes — this site also covers Ontario (Sunshine List, 1996–present), Newfoundland & Labrador, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Saskatchewan. Visit the corresponding province sections to explore.