Saskatchewan Party, NDP leaders declining full scheduled pay raise

Looking around Saskatchewan at people struggling to makes ends meet, the leaders of the province’s two main political parties are looking to tap the brakes on a scheduled pay increase.

Every April 1, Saskatchewan’s MLA salaries are adjusted, tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). According to Statistics Canada, the CPI rose 6.8 per cent on an annual average basis in 2022.

However, both Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck and Premier Scott Moe have said that’s too much for a pay raise.

“Obviously that’s not on,” said Beck. “We shouldn’t even be contemplating a 6.8 per cent increase.”

In explaining why, Beck talked about meeting people on doorsteps who are having trouble making ends meet — a 70-year-old considering getting another job to pay the bills, and another woman who was considering selling her house.

Moe seemed to agree. He said the formula for salaries is there to take it, as much as possible, out of the hands of MLAs to vote on their own pay. But he also said that 6.8 per cent seems too high.

“I think it would be fair to say that the government isn’t in favour of taking that salary increase either. What we are looking at is ‘Is there something that we’d come to an agreement on across here?’ ” said Moe.

“I don’t know what that’ll look like. We haven’t landed on what that might look like, but I think it’s fair to say that it isn’t going to be what’s recommended by the formula.”

The Board of Internal Economy will look at the pay raise before it’s finalized.

A 6.8 per cent increase to the basic MLA salary would add $7,023.38, bringing it to $110,303.38.

That increase also applied to the additional allowances MLAs get for leadership positions and ministerial and committee roles.

The premier’s remuneration would rise $12,131.61 to $190,537.61, while Beck’s salary as leader of the Official Opposition would rise to $166,470.23, an increase of $10,599.23.

In 2022, MLAs received a 2.6 per cent pay raise. In 2021 the raise was just under two per cent but both Moe and then-NDP Leader Ryan Meili committed to donating their pay rise to charity.

As of April 2022, the base pay for MLAs in Manitoba was $99,708.00, in Alberta the base pay was $120,936.00. Meanwhile in Nova Scotia, the province with the next-closest estimated population to Saskatchewan, the base pay for an MLA is $89,234.90.