Nova Scotia Sunshine List 2024 (FY 2023-24)

Nova Scotia’s 2024 compensation disclosure: every disclosed public-sector compensation for the year, with top earners, sectors, and employers.

11,163
employees disclosed
$125,790
average compensation
$116,950
median compensation
$465,855
highest compensation

In 2024, 11,163 employees at 57 Nova Scotia public-sector employers were disclosed on the province’s compensation disclosure (FY 2023-24, the fiscal year ending in 2024). The average disclosed compensation was $125,790 and the median was $116,950 — the disclosure covers only employees above the $100,000 threshold in force that year, not the entire public-sector workforce.

Compared with 2023, the list grew by 4,824 names (+76%, from 6,339 to 11,163), and the average disclosed compensation rose 0% from $125,790.

The highest-paid person on the 2024 list was Nicole Boutilier at Nova Scotia Health Authority, at $465,855. The full top 25 is below; for interactive filtering of all 11,163 records, use the data explorer or see the Nova Scotia dashboard for the latest year.

Nova Scotia's $100,000 disclosure threshold has been unchanged since the Act passed in 2010 and is not indexed to inflation, so the number of people disclosed grows as wages rise past a fixed line — year-over-year growth is not by itself evidence of rising pay or headcount. Two further caveats: the province paid out frozen public-sector service awards as lump sums in 2018 and 2019, which pushed a one-time cohort over the threshold in those years; and until 2019 school boards reported under the Education Act rather than this Act, so their earlier figures come from a differently-titled (but equivalent) remuneration schedule.

Highest-paid public-sector employees in Nova Scotia, 2024

Top 25 by compensation on the 2024 disclosure. Click a name for their full year-by-year profile.

#NameEmployerCompensation
1Nicole BoutilierNova Scotia Health Authority$465,855
2David AndersonDalhousie University$456,050
3Frank HarveyDalhousie University$433,581
4Kathryn McFaddenIzaak Walton Killam Health Centre$416,258
5David DingwallCape Breton University$412,408
6Craig MidgenIzaak Walton Killam Health Centre$411,096
7Andrew HakinSt Francis Xavier University$393,785
8Kimberley BrooksDalhousie University$374,896
9Krista JangaardIzaak Walton Killam Health Centre$363,521
10Peter RickettsAcadia University$362,406
11Robert Summerby-MurraySaint Mary's University$362,163
12Christopher McMasterDalhousie University$356,016
13Gitta KulczyckiDalhousie University$341,256
14Todd HowlettNova Scotia Health Authority$329,814
15Chris BrownerNova Scotia Health Authority$323,882
16Alice AikenDalhousie University$315,071
17Donald BrienNova Scotia Health Authority$312,160
18Douglas SinclairIzaak Walton Killam Health Centre$311,301
19Cheryl PughNova Scotia Health Authority$306,493
20Aaron SmithNova Scotia Health Authority$306,493
21Joël DickinsonMount Saint Vincent University$303,562
22Matt HebbDalhousie University$296,877
23Christy BusseyNova Scotia Health Authority$296,842
24Peter MombourquetteMount Saint Vincent University$293,434
25Katherine StringerDalhousie University$288,020

2024 compensation by sector

SectorEmployeesAvg CompensationTop Compensation
Health6,384$119,941$465,855
Universities & Colleges3,044$143,835$456,050
Education1,420$111,715$183,621
Crown Corporations142$129,202$281,436
Government Agencies111$144,442$256,697
Community Services34$126,683$169,578
Housing23$117,438$156,772
Culture & Recreation5$126,215$153,580

Largest employers on the 2024 list

The 15 employers with the most disclosed employees in 2024.

EmployerSectorEmployeesAvg Compensation
Nova Scotia Health AuthorityHealth5,542$120,049
Dalhousie UniversityUniversities & Colleges1,422$154,849
Izaak Walton Killam Health CentreHealth745$119,275
Halifax Regional Centre for EducationEducation617$111,182
Nova Scotia Community CollegeUniversities & Colleges325$116,854
Saint Mary's UniversityUniversities & Colleges319$150,296
St Francis Xavier UniversityUniversities & Colleges260$137,169
Cape Breton UniversityUniversities & Colleges255$134,647
Cape Breton Victoria Regional Centre for EducationEducation233$109,311
Acadia UniversityUniversities & Colleges214$133,380
Chignecto Central Regional Centre for EducationEducation201$112,848
Mount Saint Vincent UniversityUniversities & Colleges130$134,435
Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for EducationEducation126$113,725
Nova Scotia Legal Aid CommissionGovernment Agencies93$143,151
South Shore Regional Centre for EducationEducation90$111,164

Other years

202520242023202220212020201920182017

Nova Scotia Sunshine List 2023·Nova Scotia Sunshine List 2025