February 2, 2002

More Tricky Numbers - Making 7% Look Like 20%
$7,800 incentive to cut your service

In recent articles we have seen how the Campbell government tried to make 2% taken off of the bottom tax bracket look bigger than the 5% they took off the top bracket. We also saw how a 5% pay cut for MLAs is only a 3% cut for the Premier. Now close examination shows that the 20% salary holdback for cabinet ministers is really just a 7% holdback.

The recent media stunt involving an MLA pay freeze is cause for questioning some of the other pay distortions. Frequent visitors to the top government website may have noticed the headline "Government MLA wage rollback set". Of course when reading the full details they not only didn't compare their cuts to cuts in welfare rates but they also forgot to mention that the Premier gets the smallest pay cut of just 3% compared to 5% for a backbencher with no extra pay (doesn't chair anything).

The reason the Premier's cut is 3% is that the 5% cut does not apply to the extra $45,000 he gets as Premier or to the extra $39,000 Cabinet Ministers are paid. The same kind of distortion, 3% vs. 5%, is evident when the 20% penalty for cabinet ministers is closely examined. It does not apply to the $72,100 (now $68,495) paid to MLAs. It only applies to the extra ministerial pay.

If a Minister really messes up and loses the full 20% hold back, the penalty is not 20% of $107,495. The penalty is 20% of $39,000 or $7,800. That is a lot of money to most of the people who have had their contract broken recently, but it is only 7% of a minister's salary.

The 20% holdback that is really 7% is tricky. All of the criteria are not made public. Some of the criteria for some ministers are by order of Treasury Board. An open government ought to post the holdback criteria on a government website. After all, those criteria may reward a minister for cutting a service you need so the minister can pocket $7,800. How's that for a conflict, or maybe just an incentive?

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January 30, 2002

Pay cuts: 32% for welfare, 5% for MLAs, 3% for the Premier

Premier Campbell handles cheap political stunts like token pay cuts the same way he did his tax cuts - big on spin and short on facts.

MLAs are paid $72,100 per year. On top of that various expense allowances are paid, the biggest going to cabinet ministers, the Premier and chairs of various committees. Guess what? The top up pay of $45,000 for the Premier, $39,000 for a Minister, $25,000 for a Minister of State and $6,000 for various committee chairs is NOT going to be cut. That means the real pay cut for the Premier is not 5% but 3%. Compare that to the cuts the Campbell government is making in the support payments for people on welfare.

Changes in Monthly Support Allowances for Welfare Recipients
Category	Current Rate	New Rate	Loss	% Loss
Single Parent, One Child	$376.58	$307.22	$69.36	18.4%
Single Employable Person 55-59	$231.92	$185.00	$46.92	20.2%
Single Employable Person 60-64	$282.92	$185.00	$97.92	34.6%
Employable Couple 55-59, No Children	$401.06	$307.22	$93.84	23.4%
Employable Couple 60-64, No Children	$452.06	$307.22	$144.84	32.0%
Support Allowance for Single Parent does not include BC Family Bonus or Canada Child Tax Benefit payments for dependent children under 18 Source: courtesy SPARC of BC