NDP says bonuses for 13 Sask. Party MLAs ‘just not right’
Paying 13 Saskatchewan Party MLAs a combined $50,000 in bonuses for legislative secretary duties is a “modest amount” and a “good investment,” according to the province’s deputy premier.
Premier Scott Moe recently named 13 MLAs as legislative secretaries, tasked with doing special work for government ministers or the premier.
“To support the work that they ’re doing, I think it’s fair that they’re provided a little bit of additional compensation,” deputy premier Gord Wyant said Tuesday, adding MLAs given the duties are still required to support their constituents and do other governmentrelated work.
Twelve of the legislative secretaries are being paid an extra $3,000. MLA Nadine Wilson, as the legislative secretary to the premier, will receive the maximum amount of additional allowance allowed, $14,311.
A base MLA salary is $96,183.
In 2017, as the government preached belt-tightening in an effort to reduce the provincial deficit, MLAs took a 3.5-per-cent pay reduction. That resulted in them temporarily making $92,816.59 a year.
But in April, they accepted an increase back to the current salary.
Wyant called the $3,000 for 12 of the legislative secretaries a “modest amount” considering the maximum allowed.
RECOGNITION FOR WORK
“It’s a recognition of the fact MLAs have been asked to do some additional work to support the ministers,” he said.
NDP MLA David Forbes said legislative secretaries “haven’t produced much work in the last number of years” for the government, but Wyant took issue with that and cited work done around bullying by former legislative secretary Jennifer Campeau.
Freedom of Information requests filed by the NDP asking for records of work done by legislative secretaries resulted in no records being available, but the government said not all legislative secretaries create reports.
Forbes said he is calling on the government to change the $3,000 payment, saying the “top-up is just not right.”
He said he hopes reports will be created by the legislative secretaries named by Moe, but that the province is “not asking them to be transparent or accountable.”
It would be a “great thing ” if the recommendations from legislative secretaries are made public, according to Forbes.
Wyant would not commit to making any reports public, but said the work done by the legislative secretaries is important to help inform policy decisions being made by government ministers at the cabinet table.
The majority of former premier Brad Wall’s tenure saw legislative secretaries receiving no extra money, but he changed that policy and allowed $3,000 payments in 2017.
Under the NDP government, legislative secretaries were often paid the maximum amount. Forbes, who was an MLA and cabinet minister in the previous NDP government, said he received between $12,000 and $14,000 for work he did as a legislative secretary.