NDP blasts UCP for increasing MLA accommodation allowance

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on November 28, 2024.

news@medicinehatnews.com

Alberta’s NDP is criticizing the province after members of the Members Services Committee voted to increase accommodation allowances for MLAs by 14 per cent. The increase equates to approximately $270 more per month.

Let me be clear,” said Christina Gray, NDP leader of the opposition and house leader, “We know that under the UCP rents are up for the average Albertan, it’s been a struggle to pay some of the fastest rising costs in the country. The UCP have responded to the rental crisis by ensuring that they personally don’t feel the pain.”

MLAs will now receive an accommodation allowance of $2,200 per month, up from $1,930.

Gray says the increase to accommodation allowances will also be reimbursed to MLAs retroactively from the beginning of the year, and moving forward accommodation allowances will represent changes in prices experienced by Canadian consumers as reported in the consumer price index.

“So they’ve really taken care of themselves, both backwards and forwards, by making this retroactive,” Gray told reporters Tuesday. “If the 63 eligible MLAs all take this 14 per cent increase, we’re talking over $200,000 to the Alberta taxpayer.”

Gray says it’s “shameful” that the UCP government has chosen to help themselves in a time when the cost of affordability remains on the forefront of concerns for Albertans, and cited the increasing cost of utility bills, auto insurance and high unemployment rate.

“It’s incredibly disappointing that the first time that we see the government truly acknowledge the crisis, it’s to do something to help themselves.”

At the end of 2023 NDP MLA Janis Irwin tabled a bill that would seek temporary caps for how much rent can be increased during a four-year period but that was voted down in the legislature.

“No help for ordinary Albertans but a fat accommodation allowance increase for MLAs.” said Gray. “We hear from Albertans, they need relief, they need their government to start prioritizing the issues that matter to them, and it’s shameful that the UCP government has chosen to only help themselves.”

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