'You don't get a pay raise unless you're doing your job correctly'
A proposed salary increase for members of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly is facing criticism from one outspoken group.
In March, a report by the province’s Members’ Compensation Review Committee called for the annual salary for an MHA, detailed in section 11 of the House of Assembly Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act, to be $120,000.
Newfoundland and Labrador's MHAs have an annual salary of $95,327 — which they have had since 2009, noted CBC.
The increase of about $25,000 annually does not sit well with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
“In any industry I've ever worked in, you don't get a pay raise unless you're doing your job correctly and you're doing your job right," Devin Drover, the federation's Atlantic director, told CBC Radio Thursday, according to a CBC news report.
"A pay [raise] of this size would make them the highest paid in Atlantic Canada, when the average income is only about $48,000 here in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is irresponsible at a time when the province is running deficits after deficits, and taxes are some of the highest in the country."
The report from Newfoundland and Labrador’s Members’ Compensation Review Committee – titled How We Value Democracy – called for the MHA salaries to be adjusted to reflect the province's consumer price index on Dec. 31 of the previous calendar year.
A previous report noted that the City of Winnipeg would have to spend more than $3 million more per year if it offered city workers a wage rate that some advocates consider a living wage.
Is a $25,000 increase warranted for MHAs?
Increasing salaries for all 40 MHAs to $120,000 would cost $985,720, according to Members’ Compensation Review Committee report.
That money, however, could be better used elsewhere, said Drover.
"Thirteen of the last 15 budgets have not been balanced, which means more and more tax dollars are being used to pay for big interest charges on government debt rather than funding essential services," he said, according to CBC.
"The provincial government should be focused on getting their provincial budget under control, and using it to pay down existing debt."
Premier Andrew Furey opposed the salary increase for MHAs, saying it wasn't appropriate given families in the province struggling with the cost of living, according to CBC. Meanwhile, Progressive Conservative MHA Barry Petten, is in support of a salary increase of MHAs, but he doesn’t believe an increase of $25,000 was merited.
About one in three (32 per cent) of Canadian companies say mandatory minimum wage hikes result in increased salaries/wages across the entire company – not just for minimum wage workers, according to a previous report.
