The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition Barrick Gold's executive compensation is raising questions again, a year after overhauling its pay practices. The Globe's Rachelle Younglai writes Barrick recently disclosed a 36-per-cent pay hike in 2014 for chairman John Thornton, but the higher pay comes after a slide of more than 20 per cent in Barrick's stock price over the past year and more writedowns. "For a company that has not done much for shareholders in the recent year, it is not a good sign for the chairman to take those kind of raises," said Michael Sprung, president of Sprung Investment Management, which has a small position in Barrick. "They are drawing up plans to bring the company back to its roots. I would like to see them get there before they take that kind of compensation." The issue of Barrick's pay arose at an investor lunch in Toronto this week, where an investor compared Barrick's executive compensation with BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. "If you look at BHP and Rio, your guys are far higher paid," said the investor. Mr. Thornton, a former Goldman Sachs executive, was paid $12.9-million (U.S.) for last year. Two years ago, he received an $11.9-million (U.S.) signing bonus.