The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has applauded MLAs in British Columbia for moving forward with legislation declining a pay raise.
All parties in the legislature supported a motion on Monday to waive the annual 2.6% increase, though BC Conservative leader John Rustad maintained that compensation was not enough to attract certain segments of the population to public service.
"We expect every single MLA to vote against giving themselves a pay raise this year," CTF BC Director Carson Binda said. "While families and businesses are struggling, politicians shouldn't be dipping into your pockets to line theirs."
Upon winning the election, Premier David Eby moved to increase the number of cabinet appointments, thus giving every NDP MLA a salary top-up.
"It's good that some NDP MLAs might not be getting two massive pay raises this year," Binda added. "One pay raise was bad enough and two would have added insult to injury."
As of now, the base salary for an MLA in BC is $119.500, and those with more responsibilities are paid more. Eby, for example, makes $227,100 per year as premier, while Speaker Raj Chouhan makes $179,300.
MLAs in BC are paid relatively well compared to their counterparts in other provinces, with only Quebec and Alberta offering higher compensation to their elected officials.
Since 2008, salary increases for politicians in Victoria have been tied to inflation. This is the third time hikes have been paused since then, with MLAs voting against pay bumps in 2020 and 2023.
While many are happy with the pay MLAs receive, Rustad has argued that it could be higher.
"I'll put it in very crude terms," he told the Globe and Mail. "You pay peanuts, you get monkeys."
He went on to suggest that, "you need to get some of those young, entrepreneurial people who are in their mid-life, in their prime earning years, that will decide they want to make a difference in politics," adding that, "to do that, they have to give up their prime earning years."
"How do you compensate?" he asked. "How do you get those people to come and do this?"