'Sunshine list' to be debated at Calgary city council

Calgary city council is getting ready to debate whether to create a 'sunshine list' of employee salaries and Mayor Naheed Nenshi says he wouldn't be opposed to that — if it's done right.

Councillors will discuss later this month whether to have a consultant recommend ways of creating a list that would provide greater transparency on employee salaries. Governments in most other jurisdictions disclose the names and salaries of employees making more than $100,000 per year, and Nenshi says he is open to having that conversation but wants to hear better ways of doing it.

"Over the last 20 years, of course, people's wages have gone up so what used to be a list of 1,000 people is now a list of 30,000 people, which I don't think is particularly useful to anyone," Nenshi said.

"We'd have to figure out what the right cut off point would be."

Nenshi says he does worry about the inflationary side effects of disclosing who makes what at the city.

There is a concern employees might try to negotiate raises based on what other city employees in other departments make.