* infamous “gold-plated MLA -

All MLAs must take blame
for salary, pension mess

Dear. Sir:

' Some of the recent com-
ments on the political fire-
storm ‘created around - Bill

17, the bill to reintroduce:

MLA pensions along with a
salary increase, have been at
times more than a little dis-
ingenuous. 7

It may have slipped a few
people’s minds .that when the

“pensions” were repealed
under former Premier Mike
Harcourt it was after a. long
period of prevailing | public
opinion that the pensions
had to go. |

‘ It became the focus of at-
tacks from the federal and .
provincial Reform _move-—
ment,. the. Canadian Tax-

payers Federation, and the.

Fraser Institute. Even the
B.C. Liberals had influenced
‘public opinion to the extent .
that the message was clearly
reflected ‘in almost every
- sector of the media.
‘How strange it is to wit-
ness some of the hypocrisy.
now. It would have done

- more good to explain why’.

the ‘outrage was.so intense
-but Roger Harris avoids that:

: completely in his Dec. 6 col-

umn, “Hand was’ caught in’
» the cookie jar”.
Readers may recall the .
federal Reform MPs de-
_clared they would never ac-
-cept.a pension if they were
eligible. We know what hap-
“ pened i in that case.
- In 1996 the B.C. Liber-
, als had every candidate sign.

a proclamation that they

would get rid of “gold-plat-
ed pensions” and that was
after Harcourt had already
* cancelled them.

'*T don’t recall a single ob-
“jection to-the. cancellation
from the B.C. Liberals, or

from any of the political col-.
‘umnists at the time, with the

possible exception of Hubert. .
Beyer. Ironically, since then

the federal Reformers (now .

_ Conservatives), who have
retired, have forgotten those
sanctimonious pronounce-

, ments and. Signed up them-

i selves,
The B.C: Liberals who

. wrapped themselves in such
‘purity then recently came
_ up with this n new deal ‘in Bill

'

citizens panel made recom- —

lee ep

ROR ie Ba ee,

OR ET eg ER ate

JAW
‘The MLA pension. was
, cancelled in 1996 after a

mendations on MLA sala-

~ CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD

1c Mail Bag

ries, benefits and pensions.

_~ It was the panel which,
after consultation, came up

the changes. Their comment _

was in effect that the pension

-was too rich and the salary

was too low.
The MLA’s salary then

was $49,000 with one-third .

of it tax-free. The sense was

that the total package was
likely in the range for elect-
_ed officials across the coun- .

try but the perception of the

“gold-plated” pension had

to be addressed. :
The Liberal opposition

argued that MLAs should ~
invest in RRSPs like every- ,

one else.

Once the. citizens panel

-had made its recommenda-

_ tion it would have ‘been po-
_ litical suicide to reject their’

_findings.- “s
_As a result the salary. was

1

Helmut Giesbrecht

pensions. ;
Naturally I see any com- |
ment ‘on the history of ‘the
subject with a fairly accurate
historical perspective.
Roger Harris blames the ,
NDP for not fixing the i issue

.in 1996. His recollection of

the temper of the times is at
best vague...

oO.

“What this fiasco has done is harmed any

future attempt to address those legitmate
issues around MLA salaries and pensions
that might need attention.”

increased substantially and.
the pension was cancelled.

. There was much. very
heated debate on. this is-

sue in the NDP caucus and

everyone knew that. restor-

‘ing any kind of pension at
some future date would be*
‘extremely sensitive and dif-

ficult if not impossible.

Much: of the debate cen-

tered | around why would

anyone. want to give up the
prime years in their careers |

and.:at-the height of their
eaming potential if there
was not some assurance of
financial security?
Unfortunately that issue

‘ only. resonated: with. those

not self-employed. |

Every time I hear a rep-
etifion of some myth about
_ the integrity of the govern-
‘ment in the 1990s or politi-
cians in general, I remember
all those. MLAs who stood
up and voted to cancel their

“from Diane and. staff « Ec

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~ the NDP can claim naivety .

ty came out a winner and it

-. We do agree on one thing.
The poor timing, the secre-;

_tive process, and the haste
-in which Bill 17 was-passed

were a political disaster.
Neither the Liberals nor

as an excuse. All of them
went into the’ office with
their.eyes open.

Only the B.C. Green: Par-

reinforced the public percep-
tion of politicians in general.

When 'I heard the’morning _.

news that day,’ my reaction
was “are they nuts?”
So let me try to explain

‘what. Roger Harris avoids.

Any voter who has beeraf-
fected by increased taxes
and fees, reductions in‘ ser-
vice levels, hospital bed
closures, contracts gutted,
wages rolled back, legislat-
ed back to work and the list
could go on, is not going to
be sympathetic to those who

1

did the nasty deeds and jus-

tified it by saying there was

no money. .
They are also not going to

. be sympathetic to an opposi-
- tion who helps them get a

reward for those nasty deeds
and negotiated it in secret, no

less.

If there is” “money for

MLAs and their offices then .
- there is money to restore the ©
. Gamage done to the lives'of J

the average British Colum-
bian.

‘You need look n no further |

than the local education sys-
tem, The public’s reaction to
Bill 17 is proof that it was a
response to more than MLAs
‘voting to give themselves
more.. That i is not rocket sci-

. ence.

It does not matter ‘how

‘nice the relationship be- -
tween government. and op-

position appears to. be. The

’ public said loudly, “If MLAS |
deserve 15 per cent and a.
pension, what about us?”
--Clearly Harris can not ad- °
“mit the cause of all the out-

rage in his column. Iti is also
hard to do when’ you “are one

who participated in oppress-

ing the public and are now

‘the president of the local ‘
B.C. Liberal constituency .

association.
. What this fiasco has done

_is harmed any future attempt
‘to address. those: legitimate
"issues around MLA. sala-

ries and: pensions that might a

need attention.
- MLA” office Tesources

7 are a. simple and completely. .
different issue. These Pprob- og
lems did not’ just appear six .

months into a mandate..
Even. with transparency
and political finesse, salaries

and pension were. difficult .

issues to resolve before. :

The MLAs have ‘collec-::::}

tively made it worse. For that

they have only themselves to. .

blame.
Helmut Giesbrecht,
Terrace, B.C.
Helmut Giesbrecht was
the NDP MLA for Skeena
between 1991 and 2001.

n

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