A fifteen percent boost in public cynicism
It's difficult to believe the optics.
Party apparati so experienced as the members of the B.C. Liberal Party and B.C. New Democratic Party should surely have seen the potential for backlash from so callous a move as to vote themselves a pay raise averaging fifteen percent ( http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/news/story.html?id=ad0bd573-2c2c-4f69-bdd0-0bc1bceedb0a ).
The vote was even unanimous, showing that among seventy-nine members of the legislature, not one lone voice of conscience or political savvy was to be heard calling out from the wilderness.
To be fair, it's difficult to conceive of any good time to vote oneself a raise. As faith in governance has continued to deteriorate over the years it can hardly be a surprise that the public would view any increase in remuneration in a poor light.
It also doesn't help that the body responsible for determining and approving the raise is the body itself: in terms of oversight having the hand in the cookie jar responsible for keeping account of the cookies hardly seems prudent. And that may well be a large part of the problem with pay for our MLA's: they may well deserve a raise.
I cringe even at the thought but the reality is, which of us doesn't want to earn better pay for the work that we're doing? And if we're going to value the role of the MLA ought we not to make the job attractive enough in compensation as to draw top people to the role?
Which may indicate that some sort of impartial body is required to determine when or if members of the legislature are due for a raise. While finding anyone in British Columbia independent or objective enough for such a job would be challenging, surely the public couldn't be any more distrustful than it currently is of politicians feeding themselves from the public trough.
One can only hope this is a harbinger of good things to come in the future. Public sector workers - many if not most of whom have suffered wage freezes or worse, wage rollbacks under this government - can at least take solace in the notion that it will be that much more difficult for the government to hold the line on small wage increases for its workers after so generously rewarding itself.
At least one can hope.
Party apparati so experienced as the members of the B.C. Liberal Party and B.C. New Democratic Party should surely have seen the potential for backlash from so callous a move as to vote themselves a pay raise averaging fifteen percent ( http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/news/story.html?id=ad0bd573-2c2c-4f69-bdd0-0bc1bceedb0a ).
The vote was even unanimous, showing that among seventy-nine members of the legislature, not one lone voice of conscience or political savvy was to be heard calling out from the wilderness.
To be fair, it's difficult to conceive of any good time to vote oneself a raise. As faith in governance has continued to deteriorate over the years it can hardly be a surprise that the public would view any increase in remuneration in a poor light.
It also doesn't help that the body responsible for determining and approving the raise is the body itself: in terms of oversight having the hand in the cookie jar responsible for keeping account of the cookies hardly seems prudent. And that may well be a large part of the problem with pay for our MLA's: they may well deserve a raise.
I cringe even at the thought but the reality is, which of us doesn't want to earn better pay for the work that we're doing? And if we're going to value the role of the MLA ought we not to make the job attractive enough in compensation as to draw top people to the role?
Which may indicate that some sort of impartial body is required to determine when or if members of the legislature are due for a raise. While finding anyone in British Columbia independent or objective enough for such a job would be challenging, surely the public couldn't be any more distrustful than it currently is of politicians feeding themselves from the public trough.
One can only hope this is a harbinger of good things to come in the future. Public sector workers - many if not most of whom have suffered wage freezes or worse, wage rollbacks under this government - can at least take solace in the notion that it will be that much more difficult for the government to hold the line on small wage increases for its workers after so generously rewarding itself.
At least one can hope.
posted by david russell | 2:11 PM
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