The spring sitting of the Alberta Legislature was originally scheduled to last until June, but the Tories pulled the plug in April, months early. While Tories are working the BBQ circuit, we’re still following the issues. If the Legislature were still in session this week, as it should have been, this is one of the questions we would have asked:

Yesterday the Official Opposition released our Clean Government Initiative – twelve steps to transparency, effectiveness and accountability. Step One of our plan would establish an independent commission with binding powers to set MLA pay, benefits and bonuses.

Despite the passage of Motion 501, which requires the government to establish an independent committee to set MLA pay, the Premier has refused to make the recommendation of that panel binding – effectively making the committee useless.

To the Premier:
1) When you and I met last week, why did you refuse to make the committee’s recommendations binding?

2) If the Premier is concerned that the committee will recommend a raise that would be too high for voters to accept, why not simply establish an upper limit to such raises – or decreases – in the legislation establishing the committee? Has the Premier no imagination?

3) Why is the Premier permitting such an obvious conflict of interest by allowing MLAs to play such a huge role in setting their own compensation? Why does he think people were so outraged when the Premier and his ministers received raises of tens of thousands of dollars in 2008?

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