NDP claims BC Liberals raised staff salaries post-election
Posted June 11, 2013 8:57 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VICTORIA (NEWS1130) – They campaigned on a promise of tighter spending, but today the BC Liberals — still fresh off their election win — are already having to explain themselves over some big pay raises.
The NDP claims salary caps for BC Liberal staff have grown significantly, and in the case of one ministerial aid the New Democrats add there’s a pay raise of more than $30,000.
The opposition says it’s baffled, with a government that has pushed net zero labour contracts and a core review of spending and services.
Questioned by reporters in Victoria about the optics, Liberal Finance Minister Mike de Jong explains where the money’s coming from:
“Re-allocations from within, but the overall budget will be the same. Some of the positions are changes, the duties are changing, but the overall budget allocation will not change,” he insists. “The overall amount being spent on staff remains the same.”
He says shifting around government staff is common after an election.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says it’s not a way to win over taxpayers
The organization is blasting the BC Liberals for recent staff pay raises. BC Director Jordan Bateman says it is hypocritical to come off a debt free election campaign and hand over salary hikes.
He can’t help being critical as he explains some key political insiders in other countries don’t make as much. “You’ve got to really scratch your head when both the chief of staff in British Columbia and the deputy chief of staff make more here than the chief of staff to Barack Obama makes. The United States government pays the Chief of Staff Jack Lew in the White House $175,000 a year. That salary would not be good enough for the current deputy chief.”
He says public sector unions may use this as ammunition when they’re in contract negotiations. “The BCGEU, CUPE, the nurses, the teachers, all of those groups are looking at this going ‘excellent.’ They’ve got the finance minister on record today saying that there was some money for raises, they’ll be sure to remind him of that when they’ll be negotiating, and this is going to be bad news for taxpayers down the road.”
With many people cynical of politics, he was hopeful the government would work with the public to restore faith but doesn’t feel the pay hikes do this.
