Published: May 19, 2009 6:00 PM Wolf Depner - Penticton Western News
Outgoing local MLA Rick Thorpe said the provincial pension and severance payment for MLAs is fair, justified and necessary to draw individuals into political life. “(MLAs) are paid fairly and people have no idea how hard MLAs and ministers must work,” said Thorpe, who made those comments after a watch-group released figures which show Thorpe stands to collect close to $1 million in pension payments by the time he will have turned 80. The figures come from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. It calculated that the 19 MLAs not returning to the provincial legislature following the May 12 provincial election will receive close to $7 million in retirement benefits and $1.8 million in severance payouts. Maureen Bader, who heads the B.C. chapter of the CTF, said these “gold-plated pensions and generous severance perks” will burden future taxpayers. “Taxpayers, many of whom do not even have an RRSP, let alone a pension, are on the hook to fund big pensions benefits for politicians,” she said. “Politicians have put their own interests ahead of the people they purport to serve and will leave taxpayers to burden under a legacy of higher taxes,” said Bader, as she accused MLAs of developing a culture of entitlement. “Taxpayers who quit or are fired with cause from their jobs are not eligible for severance, unlike MLAs,” said Bader. “MLAs have created a culture of entitlement for themselves that is completely out-of-touch with the realities of taxpaying families. This must change.”
Thorpe challenged these comments, as he accused Bader of distorting the record. He noted the current pension and severance system emerged out of a report prepared by an independent commission comprised of citizens with expertise in the field of human resources. They concluded in their report, among other points, that compensations for MLAs appear to lag behind comparable positions. “We wanted to be sure that our recommendations would not place the compensation of MLAs in this province markedly out of step with some of the groups with whom they might reasonably be compared,” they said. “In addition, the enhanced compensation package, outlined in the next section, is designed to attract and retain talented people from all walks of life by lowering existing barriers to serving as elected officials.” While it may be easy to criticize the pension and severance payments, it has become increasingly difficult to recruit people from varied backgrounds to run for political office, said Thorpe. The public cannot expect their elected officials to sacrifice their best prime earning years for next to nothing, he said. The report also concluded that MLAs face very unique demands during their time in office and limited job prospects after it.
Thorpe — who will turn 63 later this year — said he has contributed to his own pension and will not draw on it until he turns 65. He later added he is not losing sleep over the size of his pension and severance. Thorpe announced about a year ago that he would not run during the last provincial election, following a couple of health scares. South Okanagan voters first elected him in 1996, then again in 2001 and 2005. During this period, Thorpe held a number of cabinet portfolios and was an instrumental figure behind several local and regional projects such as the South Okanagan Events Centre, the Bennett Bridge across Lake Okanagan and the twinning of Highway 97 between Summerland and Peachland.
Other prominent names on the CTF list include Thorpe’s cabinet colleagues Rich Neufeld ($1.296 million), Kelowna-Mission MLA Sindi Hawkins ($974,179) and Okanagan-Vernon’s Tom Christensen ($656,711); Deputy Speaker Katherine Whittred ($812,360) and longtime New Democratic member Corky Evans ($747,227).
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Click here for the complete pension party list.
VANCOUVER: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today May 13 released its calculations of the $7 million in retirement benefits and $1.8 million in severance payouts for MLAs who quit, retired or were defeated in the May 12th election.
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