Vancouver/Victoria – Optics are everything.
This would not have looked good politically during the COVID-19 Crisis.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is applauding the British Columbia government’s decision to postpone the pay hikes for Members of the Legislative Assembly.
“This is the right move to make right now, we are glad to see elected officials making a sacrifice to help struggling taxpayers,” said Kris Sims, B.C. Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
“Thousands of British Columbians have lost their jobs and small businesses are scrambling to hang on so it would have been wrong for our MLAs to take a pay raise in the middle of this crisis.”
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation had contacted the B.C. legislature last week asking if the pay for MLAs was set to automatically increase on April 1.
The Legislative Management Committee decided on Tuesday to postpone the salary increase for at least 12 months.
The pay boost would have been about $2,500 for the year for a regular MLA.
In contrast, federal Members of Parliament in Ottawa are still set to get a pay hike Wednesday, with a handful of MPs committing to donate their raises to local charities.
The Taxpayers Federation is asking for federal MPs in Ottawa to also cancel their scheduled pay raises.
