Opposition howls over raises for bureaucrats
Committee will take another look
Furor over an approved 7.25 per cent raise for Alberta’s auditor general, child and youth advocate, ethics commissioner and other legislative officers has convinced the committee chairwoman to revisit the issue.
“In consideration of the challenges facing Alberta families and our economy and concerns validly raised by the opposition … I will be calling this committee back together in the coming week to reconsider this decision,” reads a statement from NDP MLA Denise Woollard, chairwoman of the standing committee on legislative offices.
Woollard and four other NDP committee members voted in favour Wednesday of giving legislative officers raises of 7.25 per cent. With a 2.25 per cent cost- of- living allowance, plus an additional five per cent raise, the officers — whose salaries ranged between $ 148,000 and $ 273,000 a year before the hike — will earn salaries between $ 152,000 and $ 287,000.
“We’re extremely disappointed and concerned,” said Nathan Cooper, the Wildrose Party house leader and member of the committee. He, along with two other Wildrose members and Progressive Conservative MLA Manmeet Bhullar voted against the raise.
Meanwhile, the Wildrose accused the NDP of being hypocrites in the wake of Thursday’s appointment of former NDP campaign worker Mark Wells as head of the non- partisan Public Affairs Bureau.
Wells is the former senior communications adviser to the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees and previously served as a communications director for the provincial NDP.
The official Opposition said the move accelerates the politicization of the government communications service — an issue Rachel Notley and former NDP leader Brian Mason railed against as opposition members.
“The PAB is supposed to be the non- partisan wing of government to communicate with Albertans, but it’s clear it will continue its lousy history of being nothing more than a partisan wing of the premier’s office,” Wildrose critic Jason Nixon said in a statement.
Cheryl Oates, spokeswoman for the premier’s office, said Wells was hired because his is ‘ Incredibly capable and qualified.”
“The managing director of the PAB is a position that requires an expert understanding of communications work and also an understanding of the legislative structure in Alberta,” she said in a statement.
Oates said Wells will earn $ 205,000 annually in his new position.