If you have any stock investments, check out your annual reports. Up to half of the report typically is devoted to some convoluted wage comparisons that "prove" that the CEO's and top executives' executive pay is "fair" via comparing them to what other CEO's and top executives make in 'similar' companies. 

Of course it is a bit of a closed loop as no company wants to suggest 'their' executives are such poor performers that they ought to be relegated to the bottom fifth of pay. And, of course, the Board of Directors who approve these salaries are drawn from the same strata. 

So the party goes on, and undoubtedly filters into academia (note that 500K would be almost a poverty wage in most major private corporations). 

But in typical G&M/Alberta fashion, the only thing we are told to be worried about is all those over-paid civil servants. 

btw, is Alberta's 'Sunshine List' indexed to inflation, or is it a flat amount like Ontario's, which makes it a rather useless comparison device?