Wall will ditch top-up pay from Saskatchewan Party
REGINA — Premier Brad Wall said he will stop getting more pay from the Saskatchewan Party, but don’t look for changes to political-donation laws.
Wall has been getting about $37,000 a year from the party on top of his government salary, but the premier said he has asked the party to stop paying it because there are negative perceptions about what the allowance might imply. “To the extent that there’s any misunderstanding or misperception of what this is, I just think it’s not worth it,” Wall said Monday at the legislature in Regina.
“I don’t want that to reflect on the government or on the party.”
The party said in a statement the stipend has been a longstanding practice because it was felt the leader does a lot of work beyond duties in the legislature.
But the Opposition NDP has questioned how much of that bonus money comes from out-ofprovince corporate donors to the party and whether it bought access to the premier’s office. Wall rejected that suggestion. Wall said the Saskatchewan Party raises about $4 million a year from donations, so his $37,000 was one per cent of what the party raises.
Wall is believed to be the last premier to get such a salary supplement. B.C. Premier Christy Clark said in January that she would no longer get her Liberal party’s $50,000 annual stipend.
Wall earns $96,183 for being a member of the legislature and $69,954 for being premier, for a total of $166,137. That makes him the ninth highest-paid premier behind Ontario, Alberta, Nova Scotia, B.C., Nunavut, Quebec, Northwest Territories and Manitoba.