MLA pay committee tarnished

–managing editor Scott Neufeld http://www.dailycourier.ca/ May 15/07

So much for the B.C. Liberals’, bright, shiny citizen committee. Last week, Sandra Robinson, one of the members of the three person committee, spoke to a legislature reporter and revealed that she did not agree with the final report that recommended a pension for MLAs and an increase in their salary. She said further that the report was changed without her knowledge. But committee member Sue Paish, fired back saying that Robinson had zero experience working with pensions. What’s becoming clear from this public flare-up is that this committee of citizens wasn’t quite as pristine as the Liberals claimed. At best, the committee is flawed and the report should be tossed out, at worst the group was influenced into recommending an MLA pay increase. But even as the committee’s report is thrown into doubt, Liberal MLAs continue to promote their potential raise.

The party line has been that without a large pay raise, government won’tbe able to attract “good people” to the job. This argument is nonsense. What are they saying about the current crop of MLAs? Are they saying that there aren’t enough good people in the legislature? Two years ago these MLAs seemed to be satisfied with the pay level when they ran in the election. Now, part-way through their term they suddenly need a 29 per cent pay increase. Maybe it’s naive to believe that our provincial politicians run for reasons other than money. Perhaps politicians no longer do the work because they sincerely want to help people. During the NHL strike in 1994-1995, players made the startling statement, at the time, that hockey is a business first and a game second. Now B.C. MLAs seem to be telling taxpayers that politics is a business first,
public service is second.

Okanagan-Westside MLA Rick Thorpe has even gone so far as to complain that MLAs are paid less than city hall administrators. Thorpe is right, administrators are paid more, but we could also compare MLA pay to a few other positions. MLAs make more than teachers, nurses,
regular firefighters and many other valuable vocations. The difference between these careers and an MLA is that it doesn’t take any special education to be an MLA, you need to be able to express yourself well in public and raise money, that’s about it. Having a high school diploma is not necessary to do the job well. So rather than worrying about attracting “good people” to Victoria, the government should worry about filling vacancies in the job positions that are vital to society. Our province will survive if we can’t find good people to serve as MLAs. But we’re already suffering from a shortage of people working in medicine, education, law enforcement and other areas vital to our society. The government’s focus should be more fully devoted to attracting good people to those areas.