Former Hydro One CEO loses pension bid

OTTAWA, CANADA - Former Hydro One CEO Eleanor Clitheroe has lost a bid to increase her $307,000 a year pension to $464,000.

The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed ClitheroeÂ’s leave to appeal a lower-court ruling dismissing the lawsuit against the giant transmission utility.

The high court dismissed the appeal with costs, but as usual gave no reason for its decision.

Clitheroe, who is now an Anglican priest, had argued it was “pure vindictiveness” for the Ontario government, which owns Hydro One, to limit her pension.

The Ontario legislature passed a law in 2002, after Clitheroe was fired from Hydro One, imposing maximum amounts that senior executives at the utility could claim as a supplementary pension.

Clitheroe was fired after complaints about her $2.2-million salary and expense abuses including hundreds of thousands of dollars for cars and limos for her children and their nanny.

She had launched a $30-million lawsuit at the time, claiming $6 million in damages and $24 million for slander, but it was dismissed by an Ontario provincial court last year.