Departed CEO made $603K, only worked 4 months for Manitoba Shared Health last year
CBC
The former CEO of Shared Health saw his pay exceed $600,000 last year — a nearly 83 per cent increase from the prior year — despite only working for four months before his unexpected departure from the provincial health-care organization.
Adam Topp earned $603,604 in 2023, according to recent compensation disclosures.
The same documents reveal some executives also claimed in the range of $30,000 to $60,000 in extra compensation, attributed at least partially to them collecting retroactive pay increases to match the raises of unionized health-care staff.
Topp led Shared Health for less than four months in 2023 before the organization described his departure as a "resignation" in a brief, two-sentence statement to media near the end of April. The announcement of his replacement — Lanette Siragusa, one of the public faces of Manitoba's COVID-19 response — was made the next day.
Compared to the previous year, Topp's compensation in his final year on Shared Health's payroll grew by almost 83 per cent and was $272,865 higher in 2023 than the nearly $331,000 he had earned in 2022. His compensation in 2023 is triple the amount of Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew.
The high payout suggests Topp received severance because he was fired, rather than the voluntary departure Shared Health initially suggested, according to a University of Manitoba business instructor who teaches a course on compensation.
"It would be difficult to imagine something other than they paid out the remaining term of the employment contract," Sean MacDonald said.
A Shared Health spokesperson declined to comment on Topp's employment terms, describing it as a human resources matter.
MacDonald said large severance payments to top executives can spark public outrage, but he said these benefits are often embedded into the employment contracts.
"I don't think people should be immediately thinking that this is scandalous, simply because these are high numbers for the top executives."
MacDonald said high compensation is needed to attract upper managers, and severance protects them from the risk in assuming a job they could lose suddenly.
A union leader fighting for better wages for health-care support workers doesn't see it the same way, however.
"That's obscene, quite frankly, compared to the two and three [per cent pay increases] that the front-line workers have received" annually, said Shannon McAteer, health-care co-ordinator for the Canadian Union of Public Employees in Manitoba.
McAteer said she understands Topp may be entitled to severance, but she's still taken aback by how high it may have been.
It’s been 200 years since London, Ont., was first legally founded as a small village at the Forks of the Thames River, and according to city hall and a number of local historians, heritage advocates and organizations, it’s an anniversary that’s well worth celebrating in a big way.
A man is facing more than a dozen charges including sexual assault and forcible confinement after Toronto police say three people were attacked on New Year's Eve and there may be more victims.
It's hard to go a day in Calgary without seeing magpies or hearing their iconic screech.
When Joanne Cole’s Western Bay art studio burned down in August, she lost 30 years of work.
The past year included a Canadian election, an Ontario election and countless stories about Canada’s relationship with the U.S. in the wake of the Trump administration.
Here’s a list of what will be open and closed in the Halifax area on Jan. 1:
Misty Schofield, a Saint John social worker, was sitting in her warm home on Christmas Day when she started to think about her clients.
Romaine LeGallou heard the Supreme Court of Canada was turning 150 and needed a wardrobe update. And after that, everything seemed to happen so quickly.
As we enter a new year, politicians at every level of government are promising to make your lives more affordable.
After her first year as Saskatoon's mayor was dominated by the homelessness crisis, Cynthia Block expects big news about a future housing development this year.
This story was first published on Oct. 20, 2025.
From three premiers in one year to demands for deeper accountability in the education system, a bone-dry August, and long-promised bridge and ferry toll cuts, 2025 delivered no shortage of news.
A retirement community in Port Charlotte, on the west coast of Florida, has its Canadian patriotism fiercely on display.