|
|
 |
|
Gold plated? Make that platinum! |
|
|
|
Written by Al Hollingsworth
|
|
Friday, 10 October 2008 |
“What you have is an exceptionally lucrative but hidden compensation package”
The above words were uttered by Sean MacDonald, a compensation expert at the University of Manitoba’s Asper School of Business, his take on the pension packages for the members of the Nova Scotia Legislature. “Gold plated; there’s no doubt about that,” he added. Gold plated, hell make that platinum, or some other form of precious metal!
MacDonald has tried to justify the pensions by citing the “low salaries” the MLAs earn. The low he talks about is $84,177. While I take issue with it being “low,” I hasten to add that I have no problem with this salary level. I’m sure most would agree that to attract qualified and competent individuals to run for elected office, we must offer adequate compensation. After all, not everyone would want the life of an MLA – it’s not the most stress free way to earn a living.
However, the average Joe works a lifetime and is lucky to make ends meet when they go from working full time to living on their pensions. Take a look around you, observe the seniors who are back in the work force. They are behind the counters of fast food outlets, acting as security guards, clerking in stores - in short, they now comprise a high percentage of the workforce.
Now contrast that with a Member of the House of Assembly, who can qualify for a pension after winning two elections and serving for at least five years. Five years! That is nothing short of ridiculous.
The letters to the editor in the Chronicle-Herald have been very damning. Most writers contrast the four dollar a month raise recently given to those on social assistance against what the fat cats pay themselves.
What I find interesting is that the same MLAs who like to run off at the mouth on everything under the sun fall eerily silent when it comes to their salaries and pensions, and how our tax dollars afford them a pretty decent standard of living.
When was the last time a wannabe politician knocked on your door and said, “Vote for me, I’m going to raise your taxes?” Yet year after year the taxes and fees we pay keep climbing. Guess they have to if we are going to pay out yearly pensions of fifty, sixty and even seventy thousand dollars annually.
I have always believed that a disclosure should be published alerting the voters that these politicians, if reelected, will qualify for the gold plated compensation package. Let us decide who gets to taste the Royal Jelly for the rest of their lives.
Better still, make pensions portable. If, for example a teacher runs for office and wins, pay into the NSTU pension plan. If they don’t have a pension plan, pay into an RRSP for the time they serve. That would be fair - and isn’t fairness all we ask?
I’ll cite the case of Angus MacIsaac, not because I have an axe to grind with him, I don’t. I like Angus and frankly, he is probably the most effective minister in Rodney MacDonald’s cabinet.
Angus spent the best part of his life in a classroom, teaching the youth of Antigonish. For that he will receive a full pension. Probably in the neighbourhood of $50,000 to $60,000. In addition, and it grows with every contribution he makes and is matched by government (translated, we poor taxpaying fools) he has an MLA’s pension of $63,471.
Wayne Gaudet, who should have been the permanent leader of the Liberal Party, has amassed a pension of $70,294. It too will increase before he calls it a career.
Oh yes, they can take the money and run when they are 55. Most of us have to stick it out to 65 and beyond. Way beyond.
Too bad there isn’t a provincial election going on; it would make for some interesting discussions.
(Al Hollingsworth is a retired journalist and broadcaster)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
