An independent committee has recommended a pay boost for New Brunswick’s premier and the province’s MLAs.
Retired judge Margaret Larlee and lawyer Robert Basque were tasked with reviewing MLA compensation in May by the legislative administration committee, an all-party committee of the legislature.
They also looked at, among other things, future compensation adjustments, and the annual constituency office allowance of each MLA to cover rent, the salary of an assistant, and office expenses.
Their report, posted online on Monday, recommends boosting MLA salaries by 9.56 per cent, from $85,000 to $93,126, effective April 1, 2023.
It also says the premier should make double that at $186,252, up 13 per cent from the current salary of $164,000.
Ministers with portfolios would receive more than $155,000 (up from $137,614), ministers without portfolios would get nearly $140,000 (up from $124,500)
“New Brunswick MLAs are the lowest paid in Canada, save for Prince Edward Island,” said the report.
The committee also noted that MLAs in New Brunswick have not had a raise since 2008, when their wages were frozen.
In 2015, provincial ministers and the premier took pay cuts of 10 and 15 per cent, respectively, to help address the province’s fiscal situation. That pay cut remained in place until this past spring when the legislated wage freeze was allowed to expire.
But even when the wage freeze was no more, their salaries only returned to what they were before the pay cut.
The new salaries being proposed are, according to the committee, what they would have been had the GDP been applied to increases since 2008.
The report also recommends giving MLAs $125 per day when attending meetings of legislative committees, over and above their per diem expense allowance, and giving committee chairs $200 per day.
In addition, the committee said the annual constituency office allowance — which includes salaries and rent — be increased to $75,000 from $50,000, and that the salary of constituency assistants be set at $25 per hour for a 36-hour work week.
“With $50,000, most MLAs cannot pay a decent annual amount to an assistant given the other expenses they must cover. Many, if not most, MLAs operate their offices less than full-time,” said the report, noting that salaries are as low as $17,000 per year.
“Plainly stated, one cannot operate an office, be open 9 to 5, five days per week and pay staff appropriately with $50,000 per year.”
MLAs would need to pass a series of legislative and regulatory changes in order for the recommendations to take effect.
The committee said it knows not all of the recommendations will be met with unanimous favour, and it expects many will be met with “considerable resistance.”
“But in our view, the question is: How do we attract the best and brightest to govern us in the future, and keep them, while reflecting the diversity of the various communities within New Brunswick?”
You can view the full report by clicking here.
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