gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
A local MLA is calling on elected officials and provincial bureaucrats to take a temporary pay cut to express support for entrepreneurs affected by the COVID restrictions.
Drew Barnes, MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat, would like to see all MLAs and government officials, who make more than $145,000 a year, take a 20 per cent pay cut for a period of six months.
“Many have had to shutter their business, accept wage subsidies or layoffs. It’s also important to show Albertans and all investors that going forward the Alberta government is reactive to the pressure on free enterprise and job creators,” said Barnes.
He says “lots of MLAs” are reaching out to him in support of the idea.
So far there has not been support from Premier Jason Kenney.
When the latest restrictions were announced by Kenney on Tuesday, he said he was aware that those in government are not affected financially like many in the private sector are.
On Wednesday a spokesperson for Kenney said the premier and MLAs have already taken pay cuts.
“Combining the most recent cut with the Prentice-era reduction (under the previous conservative government), the Premier and MLAs have taken an approximate 15% and 10% cut respectively,” reads an email. “In addition, MLAs declined cost of living/inflation adjustments. Political staff also recently took a pay cut.”
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is backing Barnes’s suggestion.
“MLA Barnes deserves a lot of credit for asking his colleagues to share in the difficult times and accept a 20 per cent pay cut,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF director for Alberta. “Albertans are struggling, and this would show taxpayers that our elected officials are willing to share in the tough times and understand the difficulties that we are going through.”
Earlier in the pandemic political leaders in New Zealand did something similar, said Terrazzano. New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced that she, her government ministers, and public service chief executives were taking a 20 per cent pay cut for the next six months.
“It’s worth noting that the salary of New Zealand’s PM prior to its temporary cut was approximately $424,000 Canadian dollars. The Premier of Alberta earns roughly 40% that,” said Kenney’s spokesperson in an email.
Michaela Glasgo, MLA for Brooks-Medicine Hat, echos the sentiment from the premier’s office.
“After combining the most recent pay cut with the Prentice-era reduction, the Premier and MLAs have taken an approximate 15 per cent and 10 per cent pay cut, respectively,” said Glasgo.
She says she supported the last pay cut suggested by the premier and would support a move now in order to “lead by example.”
Glasgo also says the government has provided support to Albertans through deferrals and most recently the small business grant. Small businesses are now eligible to receive up to $20,000 and the threshold to qualify has been lowered to make it more accessible.
“The premier said that we would be sparing no expense to fight this pandemic, protect our frontline workers and support Albertans, and I’m proud of the work that we have done,” said Glasgo.
Barnes says he would like the government to do more to “address the growing disparity between public and private outcomes” as a result of the pandemic.
