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The independent review of MLA pay scheduled for Lethbridge on Jan. 30 was cancelled after no one registered to give submissions.
It’s easy to blame the lack of participation on the mindset of “last-minute Lethbridge,” which couldn’t commit to a hearing a week in advance, but maybe residents aren’t as concerned with MLAs’ paycheques for another reason.
The commission heard on Jan. 23 that the base salary for Alberta politicians is $78,000 — second lowest in Canada — but goes up to an average of $125,000 once special allowances, committee stipends and RRSP contributions kick in, according to the Canadian Press.
Government documents released last year, according to the Canadian Press, suggest the average is even higher at around $160,000.
Depending on what side of the fence you’re standing on, $160,000 can look like a nice chunk of change.
When the Canadian Press put together its annual “the superrich make more than you do” piece earlier this year, it stated the average Canadian working full time in 2010 made $44,366. (For those who are wondering, by noon on Jan. 3 the average top executive made as much money as the average Canadian worker makes in a year.) A Canadian earning a wage of $44,000 a year will have to labour for more than 3.5 years to earn what an Alberta MLA does in one year.
That’s not to say MLAs don’t do important work. They do, and it’s a job only a handful jump at.
But perhaps rather than concerning themselves with what the guys and gals at the top earn, the majority of Canadians are preoccupied with the bottom-level earners.
The Canadian Press article about the superrich went on to state that regular Canadians have seen their wages stagnate over the past few years. In 2010, after adjusting for inflation, average wages actually fell. That means many are figuring out how to meet basic needs on less income. It’s not an easy task.
The perceived disinterest should not be taken as Albertans giving the province free rein to decide the pay MLAs receive, but it is unfair for former Supreme Court Justice John Major to make a sweeping statement that the issue is “something that didn’t spark people’s interest enough to participate.”
Maybe Albertans are interested in the issue and maybe they’re not, but preoccupation shouldn’t be confused with disinterest. An MLA’s salary cut (or hike) doesn’t directly put more food on the table of a single mother of three. An MLA’s salary cut doesn’t directly help a struggling university student pay tuition. An MLA’s salary cut doesn’t help a senior purchase a Lethbridge Transit pass.
In the meantime, Major continues his two-week tour of the province, gathering public submissions on how much MLAs should be paid and who should decide future pay hikes with a meeting in Calgary on Feb. 2. Online submissions will be accepted until Feb. 24.
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