The following is a filed story with a local media outlet from August 2007, shortly after B.C. MLA’s approved significant pay raises for themselves.
The editor of the outlet at the time refused to publish the story, citing its “irrelevance” and stale-datedness during the dog days of that year.
That the House which was to sit that fall did not has played into Fullstop.ca’s decision to publish it now, anyway. So too has the fact that the editor of the Richmond outlet left the news business shortly following the summer of 2007.
Salient to the story now, but missing, is that Richmond Centre MLA Olga Illich has elected to return, too, to her own — differing — private life interests.
Also of note: claims by many NDP MLAs to have donated their salary increases may have been red herrings — unintentional or otherwise, as donations to registered Canadian charities in 2007 and 2008 may have substantially returned to those same MLAs via income tax credits.
So, a week’s election away and introspection from one recovering [quadriplegic] reporter, Fullstop.ca now runs it in the public interest.
Slug: Richmond MLA pay increase and pension: they benefit local MLAs differently
By: DJ Lam
Filed: Aug. 17, 2007
Records received by the ***** show that local MLAs were not in financial trouble when they voted themselves a pay increase in May.
In interviews, Richmond-Steveston MLA John Yap and Richmond Centre MLA Olga Ilich explained why they voted to give themselves a pay increase of at least 28.8 per cent and a revamped pension plan.
Hansard records show all three Richmond-area MLAs voted ‘yea’ to increase their pay in-line with recommendations made by the Independent Commission to Review MLA Compensation, which was appointed by Premier Gordon Campbell in January.
“When you’re a member of the executive council, you vote the government line; and second, I agree with it,” Ilich said. “I’m not there because I need the money, but because I felt I could make a contribution. It’s a rewarding type of experience.”
The ***** was unable to receive comment from Richmond East MLA Linda Reid, who has represented that riding since 1991.
Neither Yap nor Ilich said what they are doing with the increase, which became retroactive from Apr. 1. Opposition NDP members announced they would give the balance of their pay increases to MLA-selected charities.
According to Yap, however, his increase does not amount to much after higher pension payroll deductions replaced the nine per cent group RRSP plan deductions.
“My net pay is plus approximately $200-250 per paycheque,” he said.
“It is an increase in compensation that has been approved by the legislature,” Yap added. “I didn’t need a pay increase to be a donor to charitable causes.”
Ilich agreed. “I give a lot of money to charity and so does the rest of my family. And I think that’s a matter between me and the tax guy; I’m not doing it for the money.”
Public disclosure statements obtained by the ***** paint a financial picture around each of Richmond’s MLAs.
MLA Olga Ilich reported no liabilities in 2005 and 2006.
Statements show she owns recreational land on Galiano Island, a timeshare in Hawaii’s Maui and a local piece of land on Gabriola Crescent.
She also is the single owner of two development companies: Jema Properties Ltd., and Moffatt Road Development Ltd. Jema owned property around Steveston and in Victoria.
Ilich also reported receiving public money for her work as a BC Assessment Authority director. She reported other income from her director roles for UBC Properties Trust and the Vancouver Airport Authority. However, records show she resigned from the BC Assessment Authority on Nov. 4, 2005, as well as from UBC Properties Trust (June 8, 2005) and YVR (Mar. 31, 2005). She was elected in the May 2005 provincial election.
Reid told the ***** in May, “You don’t come to this life for the salary,” and “working people deserve a pension plan.”
She held no investment property in 2005 and 2006, and maintains a mortgage on her home in the community.
When MLAs voted for the commission’s recommendations, Reid became eligible to buy back pensionable years she lost when the old pension plan was scrapped in 1996.
Under the old plan, MLAs became eligible for their pension after six years of service, with payment based on a formula.
NDP opposition house leader, MLA Mike Farnworth, agreed the new pension plan is an improvement. “You have to be 65 to accept, rather than (the old formula of) years of service plus age,” he said.
Yap, a former banker, owns land in Richmond other than his home. His wife holds the title to property in Maple Ridge. And both are under mortgage.
He has held two out-of-government RRSPs since he was elected to office in 2005, while his wife has held four RRSPs, including one held in Singapore in 2005.
The Members’ Conflict of Interest Act requires MLAs to file annual disclosure statements with the province’s Conflict of Interest Commissioner.
Farnworth said his caucus came to a consensus about the pay increase. “We voted against it, because we thought 29 per cent was too high.” He did not say what increase was more acceptable.
Yap said BC Liberal MLAs exercised similar diligence, “Our members of caucus were encouraged to consider carefully the recommendations.”
But Farnworth also suggested that the MLAs self-agreed pay increase came too easily at the rate the commission chose. “A lot of [labour] settlements have been in the 10 to 15 per cent range – across the province,” he said.
Yap maintained, “You need to ensure politicians at all levels – whether provincially, federally, or city – are fairly compensated.”
Part of the commission’s research also included an elected official survey, where 39 of 79 MLAs responded, which revealed generally middle-class MLA representation. “The majority of respondents are married, with a university degree, typically in middle age (45-60), and few have children still living at home,” it noted.
The survey also found that MLAs average work week lasted between 62 and 70 hours.
Yap said he completed the survey; Ilich said she had not.
Both MLAs agreed that the province needed the best candidates running for public office, and that low pay should not turn people away.
“MLAs make decisions that affect the lives of many people,” Yap said. “In this province of four million people, we encourage the people with the experience and the capabilities to pick up public office to make sure they’re fairly and reasonably paid, but not so highly paid that it becomes the reason.”
“I’m happy to be doing it, I’m proud to be serving the people of Richmond, because it is an honour,” Ilich said. “Many people want to contribute to society, and many contribute to the level they can and I’m very honoured to be doing it.”
According to Yap, “It’s very satisfying job – it’s about what I expected, and more; it’s been just over two years now, and so far so good.”
In its 32-page final report, the commission concluded, “There is likely no perfect answer to the question, ‘what should an MLA be paid?’”
“I think people enter public life for a variety of reasons. I would hope it would be for people to make a difference to their community or the province,” Farnworth said, “not just the money.”
B.C.’s MLAs return to their legislative work in Victoria on Oct. 1.
-end-
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