c

o

SKEENA NDP MLA Robin
Austin says the now-can-

celled pay raise for himself -
‘and other legislators was
., discussed in a hurried man-.
““ner the night before it was
introduced in the : legisla.
- ture...

; . Although | the. raises,» a
pension plan and increases
in constituency ‘office bud-
--gets came from an all-party ©
» committee, the-great major-
ity of: MLAs weren’t given

any details until Nov. 16, he

said.

“can tell you it hap-

‘pened’ in an. unscheduled
‘ caucus meeting. It .was' a
done in a very private way.
- that has been proven to have .

been wrong,” Austin added ©
of discussions between NDP

MLAs.

AML Liberal and NDP

tion as to’ what the public

service raises should be, ”

only that they be determiried

from “fair ‘and reasonable
guidelines,” ‘according to the
-. Committee’s Teport released .
“last: week, | °

" ‘Next: year is crucial to the

ay

MLAs voted in favour of the
enabling legislation Nov.
17 but NDP leader Carole

James the next day sug--
gested the package undergo -

a public review.
' But as -public opposi-
tion grew.to the concept of
providing 15 per cent wage
increases to MLAs, a bill
, to’ cancel the first bill was
‘brought to the legislature
and passed Nov. 22.

The wage increase would
have seen MLA pay packag-

es. increase to $86,580 next '

April 1, up from $74, 500
this year.: -

“I did not expect, want

or deserve a pay raise,” said
Austin.. “I’m personally re-

“lieved I won’t be getting a

- pay raise:”

civil servants are coming off.
_of wage freezes dating back 7

_. But Austin is disappoint-
ed there won't be an increase

Sut sales tax,

. TAXPAYERS. WANT" the”
‘provincial : sales tax reduced —
_ and raises given to provincial -
 -employees, suggests a report ,,
_.- from ‘the legislative finance

- committee. that toured - the ,
“province. asking for advice: "
“on what next year’s budget
should contain.

There: was. ‘no sugges-

‘provincial. ‘government. and
“its unionized: employees as-

hundreds’ of thousands of

three years.

Provincial surpluses

" have resulted in public’ ser--

vice unions saying raises
are more than justified, par-

ticularly'in light of the wage

_ freezes...

“As. the committee ‘con-
ducted its consultations,. it

was clear that the public -
was requesting government .
_ pursue-a balanced approach

' when allocating future sur-.

: official notice of the ~
Terrace Tourism
Society AGM

December 7th 2005 at 6:30 PM
Best Western Terrace INN

"Elections of directors

Terrace Tourism Society Christmas Party
will take place after the AGM.

So mark your calendars and plan to be at
the TTS Annual General Meeting.

Prospective directors wanting to sit on the
board, please contact the TTS office.
for an application.

635- 0832

oo

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A10- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 30, 2005

\ustin says he’ s “relieved” |
pay increase cancelled

Robin Austin 7 :

in constituency ° office bud-
gets, particularly for MLAs
who cover rural areas.

The proposal to boost

-the amount by $35,000 to ..

“After office Costs, after
we pay staff, I have $1,600 a

month to run the offices and -

in my case, that’s to run two
offices,” said Austin. .
It’s not enough - for an

_ MLA. to fully be’ able to

$119,000 died: with all the |

other planned expenditure
increases...

pluses,” ’ said. committee

~ chair. Blair Lekstrom,.a Lib-

eral MLA from the north-
east.

“This balanced: approach
-includes measures to en-

hance British Columbia’s .

-economic competitiveness,
invest in physical and com-
munity infrastructure proj-
ects, and support access to

social programs for individ- ,
"uals and communities.”

The committee’ also rec-.
ommended: there be more
money ‘to help rural school
districts offset rising heating |

and transportation costs.

communicate with constitu-
ents or be an effective advo-
cate for them, he added.

Also cancelled is boosting

the budget for each political _
* party’s caucus in the legisla-

ture by $5,000 an MLA.
. It would , have meant
an extra..$165,000 for the

NDP, an amount Austin said

would have gone into more
research and- “Support. -

Austin doesn’ t know if or
when the idea of’ increasing

constituency office budgets ©
’ will be brought up again.

“That’s really. up to the
government, ” he said. .

politicians told

_» Reducing . the sales. tax -
from seven: per cent to, six.

per cent also factored into

the committee’ s delibera-

tions. " 5
“The theme. of balanced

investments in ’our, econo- -
‘my, infrastructure and so-

cial - programs was evident.
throughout the consultation
process,’

and NDP ‘MLA ‘Maurine
Karagianis.

The committee held eight
public hearings,
one in Smithers.

including

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