Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Get 8.5% Salary Increase?

The Hamilton Spectator has an article about municipalities that use the OPP rather than having their own police forces complaining about increasing costs. One part of the article I found interesting:

"Helping fuel the debate is a recent 8.5 per cent pay-hike for 6,300 OPP officers, making them the highest paid in the province. The catch-up follows two years of no increases."

That's a little less than three percent a year over three years, however considering that wage growth for private sector workers in Ontario has been quite weak, that's a big increase. Also such an increase flies in the face of Kathleen Wynne's plans to try and keep provincial expenditures low to meet a target of zero deficit for 2017-2018. According to this Sun article it took place January 1st, so that at least part of the increased salary will affect the 2013-2014 budget (Ontario's fiscal year ends March 31st). Although as the Spectator article says, some of the costs are borne by Ontario municipalities.

One thing it won't affect is the OPP Sunshine List for 2013, which comes out at the end of March. This Surly Hamiltonian post has the OPP sunshine list for 2012, along with the rankings and some analysis. There's a whopping 3,834 on that year's list (although that list is for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services which includes prison guards).