Some new staff in Manitoba cabinet ministers’ offices are being paid more than backbench members of the legislature.
The NDP government, which is hiring staff after winning last month’s provincial election, is employing some people as directors of ministerial affairs at $130,000 a year.
Kelvin Goertzen, deputy leader of the opposition Progressive Conservatives, says that is a much higher salary than ministerial staff were paid when the Tories were in power. Those salaries normally ranged from $70,000 to $95,000.
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Mark Rosner, the premier’s chief of staff, says the salaries are needed to attract and retain people, recognizing the long hours that staff work.
He says the NDP is using its own organizational structure, that the NDP and Tory positions are not necessarily the same, but the overall cost of political staff will be comparable in the end.
The base pay for Manitoba legislature members is $103,000, but the premier, cabinet ministers, the Opposition leader and some others get extra remuneration.