MLA committee paid $870,000 for no work

By Keith Gerein, Edmonton journal.comMarch 8, 2012 
 EDMONTON - An honour recognizing examples of government waste has been bestowed on Alberta MLAs for serving on a committee that has failed to meet in more than three years yet continues to pay members $1,000 a month.  The Teddy awards, given annually by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, named the Standing Committee on Privileges, Elections, Standing Orders and Printing as this year’s winner in the provincial category.  The committee, which has 21 members including a handful of opposition MLAs, last met Nov. 17, 2008, to recommend changes to some of the legislature’s rules and practices.  Nearly 40 months have passed since that get-together, yet members have continued to receive monthly stipends of $1,000, while the vice-chair and chair have received $1,250 and $1,500, respectively. In total, about $870,000 has been paid out over that time, even though the group has done no work. Some MLAs who serve on the committee struggled Wednesday to explain why they have taken the money or even what the group is supposed to do. “I sit on so many different committees and it seems like I am working from seven in the morning to 10 or 11 at night, and one committee runs into another committee and a person sort of loses track of all the stuff they are doing,” said Genia Leskiw, MLA for Bonnyville-Cold Lake. Leskiw said she has served on as many as five or six committees at one time, though she couldn’t recall how many are on her current schedule. She said people have a right to question the payouts, but then declined to answer whether she planned to keep the money she made as a committee member. Asked what the committee does and whether it should be scrapped, Leskiw also offered no comment. Government documents say Leskiw made $150,759 in the 2010-11 fiscal year, including $54,000 for serving on six committees. (more)