CEO's exit costs Hydro One 5 million dollars

TORONTO, ONTARIO - After all is said and done, taxpayers will have coughed up close to $5 million to pay former Hydro One CEO Tom Parkinson.

According to figures disclosed to the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval, a financial information database used by publicly traded companies, Parkinson was to receive a salary of $761,786, a $648,000 bonus and other payments of more than $139,113.

That's in addition to the $3.32 million he received in severance when he resigned in December, amid controversy he improperly billed personal expenses to his secretary's corporate credit card.

The terms of Parkinson's severance also include relocation costs if he decides to return to his native Australia, full benefits for two years, a mortgage interest subsidy of up to $125,000 on his mansion, and pension payments upon retirement, CTV News reported.

In the end, Parkinson will get $4,868,899.

The CEO left his job after the province's auditor general issued a scathing report about his billing practices.

Former Hydro One CEO Eleanor Clitheroe's $30 million wrongful dismissal lawsuit is still before the courts and the government has said Parkinson could have launched similar legal action had he been fired.