Alberta United Conservatives vote to boost MLA pay, taxpayer funding for their caucus

Alberta United Conservative members of the legislature have voted to boost MLA salaries for the first time since 2013.

The decision was part of a package of funding perks approved by UCP members during a committee meeting Thursday.

Chief government whip Shane Getson said the annual pay raise, which begins in April but will be retroactive to the start of the year, is "reasonable" after more than 10 years of frozen and, at times, reduced pay.

"This would account for approximately a 2.2 per cent increase," he said.

The rise will match the province's average public service rate increase, which, if calculated today, would mean a 2.5 per cent bump.

The exact figures are expected from the legislative assembly office in the coming months. 

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The current annual base salary for legislature members is almost $121,000, with added pay tied to extra responsibilities like cabinet positions.

The UCP-majority committee also voted for their caucus to get at least an extra $1 million from taxpayers for items like research support and public communications.

Both parties receive annual caucus budgets that are contingent on the number of sitting members each has in the legislature excluding cabinet ministers. The UCP government has 25 members in cabinet.

Getson said the bump to the UCP caucus budget is about "levelling the playing field" with the Opposition NDP, which has 37 members to the UCP’s 24 backbenchers.

"It is to make sure, quite frankly, I have the same horsepower that you do so we can keep it fair for all Albertans for the caucus work," Getson told the NDP committee members.

Getson said the NDP gets $4.9 million for members’ services, while UCP MLAs outside of cabinet receive about $3 million.

He said the changes will help legislature members better serve their constituents.

But Christina Gray, who leads the NDP Opposition in the legislature, said the UCP arguments are self-serving and also out of touch with Albertans facing a cost-of-living crisis.

Gray said the majority of the NDP’s caucus budget goes to support staff who help members draft and research legislation, but she accused the UCP caucus of spending their money on attack ads against the NDP.

She also argued that government ministers have a full contingent of ministerial staff and resources to do their jobs, so a more than 25 per cent increase to caucus funding means they can "double dip."

"This is increasing the size of a slush fund that you use to attack (NDP Leader) Naheed Nenshi," she told members of the committee.

She suggested the UCP could reduce its cabinet to 15 ministers from 25.

"That would be almost $1 million in additional caucus funding if you dropped the cabinet size."

Getson and other UCP committee members also voted to create a "transition allowance" for MLAs when they leave office, something New Democrats slammed as a "golden parachute."

Members who were elected in 2019 and 2023, or just in 2023, will be eligible and will receive one month of pay after leaving office for every year they served in the legislature up to a maximum of six months.

The allowance will be equal to the base salary every MLA receives and will apply to all members elected moving forward.

During the meeting, Getson cited Lorenzo Berardinetti, a former member of Ontario’s legislature who served between 2003 and 2018 before he became homeless last year.

"There are some hardships out there faced by your elected officials, believe it or not, when transitioning out," Getson said.

Alberta legislature members have not been eligible to receive a pension since it was scrapped by former premier Ralph Klein in 1993.

The committee also voted to give MLAs an additional $6,000 per year to cover expenses related to constituency offices and staff.

Getson said the increase was necessary to ensure legislature members can keep up with the rising costs of leases and utilities.

At the committee meeting Gray said the changes approved Thursday, on top of the UCP's November decision to raise the accommodation allowance for legislature members by 14 per cent to $2,200 from $1,930 a month, signal a growing trend of the government breaking "the piggy bank" for itself.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 9, 2025.