MLAs get thousands for 22 minutes work on committee

Paying Attention : Paul Wilcocks Saturday, July 23, 2011MLAs Norm Letnick and Rob Fleming got an awful lot of extra money for almost no work last year.  Letnick, a Liberal from Kelowna-Lake Country, was paid $13,353 - on top of MLAs' base pay of $101,859 - to chair a legislative committee that met once, for 22 minutes. Fleming, a New Democrat from Victoria-Swan Lake, was paid $8,903 as deputy chair.  The two led the grandly named Select Standing Commitee on Parliamentary Reform, Ethical Conduct, Standing Orders and Private Bills.  The committee met once in the last fiscal year, rubber stamping two housecleaning bills for non-profits. It took less than half an hour. Letnick and Fleming didn't set the pay. All MLAs approved the pay rates after a 2007 report on MLAs compensation. They took the money though. They weren't alone. New Democrat Jenny Kwan was paid $4,437 as deputy chair of the legislative initiatives committee, which met twice, for three hours, to discuss the HST petition.(more)