PAY RAISES AN INSULT
Jim Prentice ignited outrage among many Albertans when he encouraged them to look in the mirror. Today, our advice to the Rachel Notley government is to look in the street, where countless workers are having their hours cut, their wages frozen or rolled back. Thousands of jobs have disappeared entirely, and the forecast is for more cuts to come.
If NDP MLAs cared about such hardship, they wouldn’t have approved a 7.25 per cent salary increase for Alberta’s auditor general, child and youth advocate, ethics commissioner and other legislative officers. These aren’t ordinary Albertans living paycheque to paycheque. Their salaries ranged between $148,000 and $273,000 a year before the proposed hike that was approved behind closed doors Thursday.
Thankfully, the government’s lack of regard for Albertans’ tax dollars was seized upon by opposition members, and the NDP chairwoman of the standing committee on legislative offices has been compelled to review the wage hikes.
“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,” the committee’s chairwoman, NDP MLA Denise Woollard, said in a statement.
The pay boost — a five per cent raise and a 2.25 per cent cost-of-living allowance — was passed by New Democrat MLAs.
The fact the exorbitant wage increase will be reconsidered is of some comfort, but it’s worrisome the NDP would even contemplate padding already-generous compensation for public officials at a time when not only many Albertans are experiencing hardship, but the government itself is awash in debt.
There’ll be many Albertans who’ll cheer extra funding for women’s shelters and for Alberta’s child and youth advocate to better care for the province’s most vulnerable citizens. Many taxpayers will even buy into the government’s belief that now is the time to borrow billions of dollars to fund new infrastructure.
No one, however, will believe it’s appropriate to award a handful of well-paid senior civil servants — no matter how hard they work on behalf of Albertans — 7.25 per cent pay hikes.
The government has lost its credibility with this insulting decision that reveals an arrogant disregard for the plight of ordinary Albertans — the very people who brought the NDP to power in hopes of better and fairer governance. A reversal in the pay raise appears inevitable, but it’s going to take a long time for Notley and her MLAs to regain the confidence of taxpayers.
Such a lack of common sense and compassion won’t soon be forgotten.