VANCOUVER: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today called the MLA salary freeze that takes effect tomorrow “bogus” because the MLA base salary would have stayed the same in 2010 without the freeze. The CTF further called for a rollback of the 2007 MLA pay hike to start bringing the cost of government into line with taxpayers' ability to pay.
"Freezing the MLA pay hike for 2010 was complete fakery because according to the way the pay hike is calculated, it would have been zero anyway," said Maureen Bader, B.C. Director of the CTF. "Taxpayers need to see real restraint from our politicians, not April Fools' tricks."
According to the Members Remuneration and Pensions Act, the annual MLA salary increase is based on Statistics Canada's Consumer Price Index (CPI) for British Columbia for the previous calendar year. The index used to calculate the annual MLA salary increase is from the Statistics Canada's December Consumer Price Index report. In the December 2009 report, the average change for the CPI in B.C. was zero per cent.
"While taxpaying families struggle to make ends meet, politicians try to fool us with number games," said Bader. "If they are serious about putting a plug in the deficit spending spigot and fighting the growing debt, our politicians need to get real and rollback the massive 2007 MLA pay hike."
In 2007, a panel recommended a 30 per cent pay increase for MLAs. This increase was accepted by all parties and sent base MLA pay from $76,100 to $98,000 that year. Salary for additional duties, such as premier or minister, is now based on a percentage of the base salary, so it also increases every year. Annual salary increases since 2007 mean MLA base salaries now sit at $101,859. The premier's salary rose from $121,100 in 2007 to $193,532 now. If the 2007 salary had increased at the same rate, and pay for additional duties had remained the same, base salaries for MLAs would now be $79,144 and the premier's salary would sit at $124,144.
"The 2007 panel that jacked up salaries was a hand-picked group of elites who appeared to be out of touch with the realities of taxpaying families," said Bader. "Politicians must now show genuine leadership and roll back their base salaries to affordable levels.”
Maureen Bader, B.C. Director
