HALIFAX – A storm is brewing inside Province House over whether two ex-MLAs were given advance notice about a plan to eliminate their transitional allowance.
On Tuesday, the province’s finance minister Diana Whalen introduced amendments to the House of Assembly Act to freeze the salaries of MLAs for three years. The amendments would also eliminate the transitional allowance given to pension-eligible MLAs. The maximum payout in transitional pay for MLAs is $89,000.
“You will simply retire or resign, whatever the cause is of your leaving, and move straight to your pension,” Whalen said.
She said the amendments, which also include a wage freeze to 1,800 non-unionized employees, would save $2.5 million.
Whalen said the amendment is a measure of austerity, but there are concerns that two former MLAs were given a heads up about the plan.
Former NDP House Leader Frank Corbett and MLA Gordie Gosse resigned suddenly last week, meaning both received transitional pay.
Conservative House Leader Chris D’Entremont said he had heard rumblings about the cut but that there had been no discussion about it.
“We were made aware this morning the bill was coming forward to the House, not necessarily with all the details that were in it but it was going to affect the severances and it was going to affect pay,” he said.
He said the three house leaders did not discuss the matter within the last couple weeks.
“I don’t want to speculate on behalf of two ex-MLAs at this point. Maybe they knew something, maybe they didn’t,” he said.
“If I didn’t really know about it, outside of the speculation we were making, I don’t know how they would have known about it.”
But Maureen MacDonald, the interim leader of the NDP, said the party had some notice, within the last couple weeks, that the government was thinking about the cuts.
However, she did not know whether that may have been incentive for both Corbett and Gosse to resign.
“Members make their own decisions about when they leave this place just like they decide whether they’re going to go into politics or not.”
The Liberals House Leader Michel Samson did not say much when pressed by the media about the matter.
“We had a number of discussions amongst the house leaders as to the functions of the house. I don’t intend to share the exact nature of those discussions,” he said.
He refused to comment on whether Corbett knew the changes were coming or whether house leaders were given advance notice. Samson also kept mum about taxpayers’ money and the fact public trust was on the line.
“Discussions we have are ongoing and that’s been the case ever since I’ve been house leader. In order to establish trust amongst ourselves I don’t believe it is prudent to be sharing the specific details of those conversations,” he said.
Comments