A mistake put the head of troubled Global Sticks Inc. on the province’s last sunshine list.
The list, which discloses public sector workers in Ontario who make more than $100,000 a year, had Global Sticks’ president Reggie Nukovic making nearly $125,000 of public money in 2010. Natural Resources minister Michael Gravelle said it was a mistake.
The company has received nearly $7 million from the province. When Global Sticks received the funding package, Nukovic accidentally filled out a salary disclosure letter that he’s not required to sign as a for-profit company.
“It was a mistake certainly I was as shocked as anybody else would have been when I was informed that indeed he was on the list,” Gravelle said Wednesday after being informed of the disclosure by Thunder Bay Television.
“(Nukovic’s salary) is certainly not part of taxpayer funded dollars.”
Gravelle has asked the Ministry of Finance to remove Nukovic’s name from the list and wants the government to look into whether the letter is necessary for for-profit company funding packages in the future. He said the disclosure wasn’t fair to Nukovic.
“I feel somewhat embarrassed may I say on our behalf,” Gravelle said.
As for Global Sticks, which has been shut down since November, Gravelle said the province is in communication with the company to see about restarting.
We have certainly made it clear to the company that we’re prepared to look at a potential to defer some of their required payments if they are able to come up with the extra private sector dollars they believe they need to get things restarted,” he said.
“It’s important thought that with all the public dollars that have gone into it that we see some private sector support."
Nukovic said he's not concerned that his name ended up on the list as the company has nothing to hide.
He added that he hopes to have employees back to work as early as Jan. 15.
