Sounds fair tome. After all, you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

pay fillet mignon and still get monkeys. I do not support this raise.

If they were to take care of the youth and seniors then I "might" say OK.
I have no doubts in my mind that this committee was paid for this result and that Mr Campbell will see it happens. Afterall he might not make it backin again and he could never do with out his pension, medical and private driver for the next over .08

Typical Campbell. Raise a stink about a fifeteen percent increase and I'll spend tax payers dollars on my own hand picked "special commision" and then make you pay for questioning me by getting almost thirty. This guy is so crooked he makes the Enron folk look like rank amatures.

hmmmm, yes this will be great as usually Judge's wages are linked to MLA's. Guess who is usually on the impartial commiteee that picks the MLA's wages, yep you guessed it a judge or former judge !

Well when my union contract comes due I hope for 29% increase as well, whoops if I get 2.9% that would be amazing ! hahaha

I wouldn't call a 29% increase a raise...I'd call it a lottery cheque.

Oink, oink, oink.....

These are the same ##@@%&*s that lifted $1300 a year out of my pension a few years back and I worked 12 months a year. They work 2 months a year tops and then run a Wendy's or used car lot the rest of the year. Now they want a gilt edged pension and full medical again. Legalized robbery I say. Might as well get it now before your Lieberal party gets dumped. Better get the boys on the phones to the talk shows to justify this cash grab.

$186,000 for the premier of the province .... still not as high as the medical health officers in the province.

There are professional athletes who make more than that in one game ..... and they are allowed to drink and drive ...

;-)

And people say that there is no spiralling effect when the minimum wage goes up ....

reasonableman, right on, well put!! Lottery cheque, that's my laugh for the day!!

Are we suprised? Inspite of what we are being told,this was a forgone conclusion when theses panelists were hand picked by Campbell.And they were.
Notice the fact that everyone of them who were involved in filing this report is already in a much higher wage bracket than the average joe?
B.C.politics is nothing more than an old boys club and they WILL look after themselves.
This is an obscene amount and unwarranted.Can you imagine the spin-offs that this will cause if the raise goes through, which it is almost certian to do?
So what would be wrong with a raise based on an across the board average in line with what everyone else in the province is getting?
What makes them special?.. in a word,NOTHING!
It will be interesting to see if our government supports the minimum wage increase to 10 dollars?
How could they not?
Prediction...The B.C. government will roll it back to say...21 or 22 percent and it will be a done deal.Just watch.
There is one key driver in this...Gordon Campbell.His true colors are starting to show even more than in the past.Must be hearing footsteps?

Its interesting to note that the increase for MLA'S amounts to approx $22000.00 per year.

If you raised the minimum wage to $10.00 per hour, those people on minimum wage who worked a 40 hour week would gross $20,800.00 per year. That is $1200.00 less than the increase for MLA'S.

Why do we need a major debate to increase the minimum wage? All we would need is to use the **Independent Panel** that the Government used and **Walla** problem solved.

An increase in MLA'S salaries that is more than the total earnings or a large percent of our population for a year, is disgusting, and gives you some insight into who we are, how we operate, and what we stand for.

Several years ago I made a written submission to a traveling committee from the Ministry of Labour about setting public sector wage rates so as to avoid service disruptions (in health care mainly). I suggested that a Provincial Reference Wage be calculated, based on negotiated rates in industry and the numbers of employees at each rate. It could be updated easily enough as new rates were negotiated over time. The rates for each type of public sector work could then be rated as a percentage of the Reference Wage. Once the relationship is set, based on current rates, it would remain unchanged for long periods (30-50 years, or longer). Each year, on a set date, the pay rate for any group would be adjusted by the increase in the Reference Wage.

Although it would also require agreement from the various employee groups, since a system like that would have to be endorsed voluntarily, it would go a very long way to removing these constant disputes about how much to pay public sector workers (and I include MLAs as public sector workers), and the service disruptions that the disputes bring about. Other issues could be dealt with similarly (vacations, benefits etc).

It was rejected out of hand, primarily because it would remove control over (tax) money from the ministry involved.

Owl once again tries comparing apples to snowflakes.

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You got that right thereasonableman.

Office employees for the BC Teachers Federation on strike for higher wages. Present salary approx $97,000.00 per year.

For anyone who may be interested, George Bush the President of the USA gets a yearly salary in the area of $250,000.00

Hunter Harrison the CEO of CN Rail gets a salary plus bonus's of $46,000,000.00.

There is little correlation between salaries and responsibilities anymore.

School teachers for grades 1 to 5 getting something in the area of $57,000.00 per year and up from there.

Seems to me our motto is or should be, Im getting mine pal and you can get yours or starve to death.

We at best are a sad lot.

A couple points from me,

This increase only speaks to the wages. When you factor in the increase in pension, this is actually a 67% increase. Sad sad sad.

Harbinger, you mention peanuts and getting monkeys. Think about this.

In 2006 MLA's sat for a grand total of 46 days. IN 2005 it was 52 days, and this after their 2001 election promise of setting a legislature schedule and sticking to it. Not since the days of WAC Bennet have MLA's sat for so few days.

No one deserves a 29% pay increase.

Politicians make me sick.

The revolution starts now!

I think Palopu puts it in perspective, and Ammonra has the right idea.

I think politicians should be paid only for the months they are in session with an out of session allowance of maybe $20,000 above their constituency office costs. It should be about serving the public and not about the pay check. This whole paycheck business is how we get politicians like Dick Harris.

As an aside to Palopu's comments about Hunter Harrison's $46 million dollar salary; it makes one wonder how much he had to cut from CN safety to secure that kind of salary for himself. Privatization of public assets sure does create wealth for some.

I guess we are paying a performance bonus to these politicians for a number of things including:

- $600 million dollar 150% cost over run for the Vancouver convention center fiasco.

- Insider profiteering in the sale of crown assets like BC Rail.

- Removal of the 'in the vicinity' clause for Alcan in handing over our provincial sovereignty over our water resources to a multinational for export profiteer.

- Absolute failure to address the mountain pine beetle issue, which could prove catastrophic for much of the province after they leave office.

- Privatization of BC Ferries and the off shore tendering of the BC ship building industry.

- Supporting the coastal fish farm industry that has devastated the natural salmon fishery.

- Rejecting a 60% vote by the citizens of BC for a new more democratic electoral system in the BCSTV process.

- Neglecting a decade worth of northern infrastructure needs in favour of a two week party for Vancouver and Whistler.

- Privatizing BC Hydro billing and transmission so we are forced under NAFTA Chapter 11 to compete with Americans for our own hydro resource.

And I'm sure the list could go on with more promises never kept and secret agendas funded by lobbyists that run our government through their political party apparatus.

Now lets give them a 67% raise for their efforts?

Carole james and the NDP say no to the 29 percent and say it should be shelved.Smooth political move.
It does leave the lying liberals in a bad position...so,here is what I think they will do.
In order to save face and not be seen as backing up the NDP,Campbell and James will cut a backroom deal to accept a smaller percentage.Maybe even as low as 15 percent but maybe a bit higher.(that's probably already in the works)
They will then ram it through the house and hopefully appease the voters, not that they really care about the voters.
They know the 29 percent is way to high.
What better way to look better and get what you originally wanted than to be able to say...see what good guys we are..we didnt take the big one!
I think this whole thing is a setup.This may have been the intention all along.Something is very stinky here!
And Big-B is also right.For the amount of time they actually sat,they do NOT deserve this raise and that is really what it is all about.
And Chadermando...also a good post, but maybe it should be called a NON-performance bonus?
They want this raise now because when the crap hits the fan as we get to the big cost over runs for the Olympics etc.in 2010,it ain't gonna be pretty!

cancel the olympics now! We can't afford them! There's gonna be an earthquake down there soon anyways. Maybe the central interior will become oceanfront property!

Right on Imorg!Between the Olympic cost overuns,convention centers fiasco's (which you might notice they don't talk about much)etc.,it is gonna be very nasty!(oh the lies!!)
...and I figure the waterfront lot's will start at Hope when the big one comes!Even Sunshine Valley will be waterfront!
:-)

"Not since the days of WAC Bennet have MLA's sat for so few days."


????????

This is bad???? I tghought the whole idea was to get them off sitting on their asses and doing some work, meeting people, seeing the state of the province, etc. etc. You know, be with the people and getting input from them, being in their constituency offices to get feedback from the community they represent.

So here they have streamlined the legislature business, get away from the cameras, quit sitting on their assess, and they get blamed for not doing anything .....

Elctors are a tough crowd. They never know waht they want.

Just watching the posts by Owl this past while I am coming to the conclussion that he must be a politician. Which one: Bell, Harris, Rustad, Bond, Kingsley, Basserman, Zerosky or Carol James?

I dunno, sometimes I think he's running for the Marijuana Party. Or maybe he's a yogic flyer.

;-)

Well,I figured Campbell and his gang would roll the 29 percent back a just a bit and hammer it though.Wrong.
It looks now like he will grab the 29% and run with it.He will also make damn sure he sets it up so the NDP has little choice but to take it or get shut right out.
Typical Campbell slimey move.Force the NDP to take it.
I have little use for the NDP but at least they said no way to this excessive bonus!
It will be interesting to see how the public reacts.This is just plain wrong, but Campbell knew what he was doing.Notice how fast he has moved to get it accepted?
We've been set up!!

Okay .... that proves it for good ... camoose does not know one politician from another ....

;-)

The whole spectrum .... from Harris to James, eh?

It does prove one thing though, that I do not pick the issues and my views on them along party lines. What politican do you know who would do that????

I know ..... Emerson ... Stronach ...

;-)

Oops. Forgot Bruce Strachan in that list or the President of the Chamber of Commerce.