I notice he didn't say anything about his pay!
or do they just get bigger expense accounts to compensate?

He did as he should have, yet there is complaint?

I like
"In addition, all members of cabinet will continue to forgo ten per cent of their ministerial compensation until the Province returns to balanced budgets."

Perhaps we should be legislating some sort of thing that reduces the pay of our elected leaders at all levels based on the state of the community, city, provincial or federal.

I agree with Loki - "did as he should have"

Say what you will about the provincial gov, on this issue they have shown good moral character here unlike the self-interested PG City Council.

Considering the number and the amount of raises they have handed themselves,a pay cut would have been more in order?
Not much credibilty here.

Horahhhhhh for once Provincially! Yet again out city council lives within a bubble of no recession. I hope that provincially they can cap increases by municipalities. That is what is needed to stop people like we have running this small town city with huge expenses. They would be forced to LIVE WITHIN THE BUDGET!

It's a good start. But, considering the raises they already gave themselves, it's not enough to earn them my respect. Doing this right after being elected/reelected would have been a great time to show that they can 'lead by example.'

It figures that people are still finding ways to complain about this. They can do no right in the eyes of some, it's amazing that they even try.

Have they tried? What have they done to win us over? They take, we give. They take more and demand we give more. Then they tell us they won't take any more over and above what they've already taken and we're supposed to bow down to them?

I see an elected dictatorship that does what it wants to do and doesn't give a darn about what the folks that elected them think. And no, I'm not a big fan of the other party either. I voted for an 'independant' that seemed to want to do good for the province.

So, our invisible premiere has made a big press release. Once more, a crock of ---- from Gordo. So he's frozen the cost of living increase for his minions. The only thing wrong with that is that there would not have been an increase this year anyway as the cost of living went down .9%. Smoke and mirrors.

When your Salary is approx $99,000.00 per year, as an MLA, plus $160,000.00 more if you are a Minister, Deputy Minister, Premier, etc; then I dont think that holding the line on cost of living allowances, or increases is a big deal.

This whole release is to show the Civil Servants that they should not be expecting any further increases.

When you look at the big picture, the salaries of MLA"S are small potatoes compared to the huge cost of Government.

We need an across the board reduction in all Government departments budgets of 10%. No exceptions. They can find the money wherever they like, but they must reduce by 10%. This would be a good start.

Most MLAs are worth every dime and think its a good move to freeze pay. I just wish our own City Hall would do the same and in fact cut pay in light of economic times.

They might as well have voted themselves a raise. It would've gotten pretty much the same reaction.

And laying off over 200 forestry workers

Who are you MrPG?? You must be of government blood. Your comments are ridiculous. I get tired of your numerous comments on any given topic!! How about waiting until evrybody has made their comments, and then give us your "OPINION" Thanks in advance

No, I work in the private sector, but thanks for asking. If my comments cause you problems, I would suggest you don't read them in the future. For what it's worth, I'm not a fan of your comments either.

It's about as ridiculous as the former NDP government saying it's lowering the income tax rate for small business when the majority of small businesses never made enough income to be taxable anyways.

Even if there were an actual reduction in salary, the backbench MLA's basic pay is still more than the majority of us make. While the Premier and the rest of the (bloated) Cabinet are hardly going to have to slum it, or have their wives take in laundry to make ends meet.

Aside from that, across the board pay cuts for all in government service, popular as they may be with those of us outside government, won't really do anything to solve the budget problem by themselves.

The problem that needs solution exists at a higher level, in the economy as a whole. These type of cost cutting measures do nothing whatsoever to address that larger problem, which is 'macro-economic'.

It involves fundamentally the carrying forward of past costs into current prices (and taxes) without simultaneously distributing sufficient incomes to the public to enable them to fully liquidate those costs.

From that perspective, reductions in pay for government workers will make the overall economy worse, not better. (And Palopu, go back and look at conditions in the Great Depression, where this policy was rigidly followed, if you still don't believe this is so.)

Earned incomes, in a any modern economy, are always only a PART of the costs that go to make up prices of goods and service, even government supplied one, in any given cycle of production.

The REST of those costs are made up of overhead charges. Capital costs, if you will, that DID distribute incomes at some time in the PAST, but for the most part, those incomes were spent as received, and now no longer exist in the hands of the public as 'money'.

When products, even services provided by government, come onto the 'market' with a price (or tax) based on their costs attached to them, there is already a shortage of purchasing power in the hands of the public from "earned" incomes to liquidate those prices.

Further reductions in pay make this situation worse. They'll simply lead to what we've already witnessed ~ a fall off in production and provision of services in the face of a continued 'real demand' from the public for them. A 'real demand' that can't be realized for lack of 'effective demand' ~ the continued ability to pay the price for lack of money. We induce a purely 'financial poverty' in the midst of a 'physical plenty.'

Think global, act local.
Even with macro economics, the pennies do add up.
Campbell cannot solve the global economic crisis on his own, neither can Harper.
What they can do is affect their own domains as positively as they are willing to. This is one of the small steps in the right direction for which he should be commended.

Smoke and mirrors? It may called a cost of living increase, but I doubt is has any tether to the economic state of the province. It is just what they called it because some collective needed a term to justify contract amendments and the MLA's thought it would be a great thing for themselves.

The total 'pennies' in the hands of the public will never add up to a figure that will match the total 'price values' of goods and services for sale at one and the same time, Loci, even if all national boundaries were abolished and we had a One World Government.

And Gordon Campbell's government could, with some difficulty I admit, solve the economic crisis as it applies to British Columbians on its own.

Stephen Harper's could do it much more readily for all of Canada and Canadians. The difficulty is neither one of those governments, nor any of those currently waiting in the wings to replace them, are "our" governments. We may have elected them, but the orders they follow are issued elsewhere. Those orders continually place "figures", mere numbers with dollars signs in front of them, in priority to "facts". It is a self-defeating scenario. But while it's in place it continues to cause our 'real' economy to constantly underperform its actual potential. And we are cursed with a poverty, and an increasing poverty for an increasing number of our citizens, in the midst of a potential plenty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group

Yes, our entire economic system is constructed such that the riffraff (you and I), will always be under the thumb of the ruling elite (governments, ordered by captains or generals of industry)

This grew out of the feudal system and has remained mostly unchanged because there are few willing or able to take the reigns for the benefit of the community. It is only those with the personality to lead that pursue that course of vocation. They think different than the common citizen, they need to to be successful.

This system was developed this way because those that made the laws were and are the business leaders of the day. And ya'll wonder why they do the things they do. It is about self serving actions.

The only thing that will change that is a fundamental cultural shift where excessive wealth hoarded is viewed very negatively by society and using one's financial success to improve the human condition for all is preferred. I have noticed more celebrities doing more altruistic work with their fame and funds. Jolie and Bullock come to mind.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=4c54202f-22eb-44c1-913b-3596aba67f65&k=28763

Considering they voted themselves a raise starting at 29% for MLAS and 50% for the premier in 2007, how big of them not to TAKE another raise from us this year.

This is pure politics, they're only announcing the wage freeze so when the public sector union contracts which are up after the 2010 games they can say, "Everyone else is tightening their belts, we didn't even get a raise this year! You shouldn't get one for three."