Genia Leskiw, MLA for Bonnyville – Cold Lake, and 20 other MLAs serving on the all-party provincial Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing have come under fire this past week.
The committee was the recipient of a tongue-in-cheek Teddy Award, chosen by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation to recognize excessive government waste.
The committee, which Leskiw explained meets to consider matters of how the House is run, dealing with issues like the order of questioning and how the procedures in the legislature are carried out, has not met since 2008 and each member has been paid $1,000 a month for their role on it.
Though Leskiw doesn't blame people for being angry, she said MLA remuneration is not that simple.
Pay structure for committee work changed in 2008, she explained. Now, pay for committee work is capped at three — $1,000 a month for each — no matter how many committees the MLA actually belongs to.
For her part, Leskiw explains, she sits on six despite only getting paid for three, including the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing.
“I go to so many meetings, I never stop to think which committees I get paid for and which I don't get paid for,” she said. “I just never really bothered to look at that. I knew we were getting paid for committee work but never stopped to think about which ones were actually recorded and which ones weren't.”
The issue of MLA remuneration is not a new one for Leskiw or many of her peers, she added.
“A lot of us question how the MLAs are being remunerated,” she said, adding that she is happy Premier Alison Redford ordered an independent review on MLA compensation and benefits last year, which will be conducted by retired Supreme Court Judge John Major.
“The review is currently underway,” Leskiw said. “It will determine and ensure that MLAs are remunerated appropriately for their work.”
She added the review was not a reaction to this past week and has been in the works since last year.
“I don't blame people for being angry,” she said. “We should be more transparent and I can't wait for the review to come and to actually give a transparent cost review of what MLAs' pay should be.”
For her part, Leskiw hopes this past week's difficulties will not overshadow her successes in the last four years, particularly heading into a provincial election.
“I worked hard these four years and if people are going to judge me on this one particular incident, then so be it,” she said. “But I know that I have worked hard, I've done a great job of representing the people in this community and if this is what they're going to judge me on, this one incident, and throw away four years of working for them 24-7, what can I say?”
The other members of the committee are Lloyd Snelgrove, Moe Amery, Guy Boutillier, Pearl Calahasen, Alan DeLong, Arno Doerksen, Heather Forsyth, Broyce Jacobs, Mel Knight, Barry McFarlane, Leonard Mitzel, Rachel Notley, Bridget Pastoor, Dave Quest, David Swann, Janis Tarchuk, Dave Taylor, Gene Zwozdesky and former Premier Ed Stelmach.
The committee is chaired by Raymond Prins.
