Salary raise for MNAs would be bad optics
MNAs may be underpaid, but hike would be bad optics
Somebody was going to pay for Yves Bolduc’s weeklong public humiliation by Premier Philippe Couillard, which resulted in Bolduc quitting active politics. And that turned out to be the Quebec taxpayer.
Bolduc was already the third member of the National Assembly to resign his seat since the general election last April in disappointment over career setbacks. Unlike Christian Dubé of the Coalition Avenir Québec party and Élaine Zakaïb of the Parti Québécois, however, Bolduc did not forgo his “transition allowance.”
In his case, his quitter’s bonus was worth $ 155,000, in addition to his MNA’s pension. Bolduc was entitled to the allowance, which is supposed to cover an MNA’s transition to another livelihood, even though Bolduc quit the Assembly voluntarily, and even though he immediately resumed his medical practice.
Such flagrant abuses have resulted in increasing criticism of the quitter’s bonus for MNAs who, like Bolduc, renege on their moral contract with their constituents to represent them for the full term to which they were elected.
Bolduc was able to collect only because he and the other Liberals in the previous legislature waged a filibuster, or systematic obstruction, to block proposed legislation that would have abolished the bonus for MNAs who quit without a valid reason.
Whether Bolduc was motivated by spite or greed, his egregiousness shamed Couillard, who collected a six- figure bonus himself when he quit politics in 2008 for a lucrative private- sector position he had already lined up, into finally agreeing to abolish it.
But while the bill in the previous legislation concerned only the transition allowance, the Liberals apparently intend to propose a comprehensive reform of the MNAs’ pay.
It would be based on a 2013 package of recommendations by an independent, non- partisan committee chaired by a retired Supreme Court justice, Claire L’Heureux- Dubé.
The L’Heureux- Dubé committee recommended what amounted to a 15- per- cent increase of the MNAs’ basic salary, to $ 136,010 in 2013, in return for abolishing the transition allowance, except for resignations for valid reasons. It would also make the MNAs’ pension plan less generous by increasing their contributions and reducing their benefits.
The committee made a convincing case, based on an analysis by a management consulting firm of the qualifications and problem- solving ability required of MNAs, as well as the decision- making influence they have, that the MNAs are significantly underpaid.
Even at the best of times, however, pay raises for politicians aren’t popular. And these aren’t the best of times.
The government’s employees think they deserve a pay raise, too. But the government has offered them a twoyear wage freeze, followed by three annual increases of only one per cent. It’s been telling other Quebecers they must accept higher taxes and fees in return for reduced public services so that it can balance its budget for the fiscal year beginning next month.
And in the fall, the Charbonneau commission is to publish its report, which may blame some politicians in connection with corruption and collusion in the construction industry.
Couillard has tried to defend the L’Heureux- Dubé package by saying it would result in no additional cost. In fact, the committee estimated its recommendations would cost a net additional $ 800,000 a year, or four per cent, after deduction of increased income- tax revenue. That additional cost could be eliminated by dropping all or part of the salary increase.
The government could use its majority in the Assembly to adopt the pay raise. That would expose it to criticism, however, since such changes are customarily adopted only by consensus, with the support of at least one major opposition party.
And the only apparent consensus among the Liberals, the PQ and the CAQ is to make Yves Bolduc the last MNA to collect the quitter’s bonus.
Couillard has tried to defend the L’Heureux- Dubé package by saying it would result in no additional cost. In fact, the committee estimated its recommendations would cost a net additional $ 800,000 a year.
Don Macpherson