Senior Nova Scotia bureaucrats appointed to review pay package for politicians

HALIFAX — A panel of senior Nova Scotia government bureaucrats will examine the pay packages for members of the legislature, which have not increased since before they were frozen nearly a decade ago.

The independent panel will review such things as salaries, benefits, pensions, and travel and constituency allowances, house Speaker Danielle Barkhouse said in a news release issued late Wednesday.

Panel members include Tracey Taweel, the premier’s executive deputy minister; Kelliann Dean, deputy finance minister; and deputy justice minister Jennifer Glennie. As well, Deloitte Canada has been hired to prepare a report on remuneration for legislature members.

Barkhouse said the deputy ministers have the combined experience to carry out their task, adding that she has “the utmost respect for their independence and their unimpeachable non-partisanship.”

Her office confirmed in an email Thursday that the conclusions of the review panel will be binding. According to the House of Assembly Act, the panel’s report is due within 90 days of the Nov. 26 provincial election — Feb. 24.

In a statement, Opposition NDP Leader Claudia Chender said the composition of the panel is a “departure from recent practice.” The last compensation review, conducted in 2022, involved panel members nominated by the three main parties in the legislature.

Chender said the Progressive Conservative government’s decision to choose all three members this time around “raises questions and concerns about how (Premier) Tim Houston plans to work following last month’s election.”

Liberal house leader Iain Rankin said in a statement that his party believes politics need to be kept out of decisions around compensation for legislature members, but he added that all parties need to be involved in the preliminary discussions.

“We look forward to engaging with the panel and hearing their recommendations,” Rankin said.

Former Liberal premier Stephen McNeil imposed a freeze on politicians’ pay, office budgets and living expenses in 2015. Since then, base salaries have remained at $89,235, although there are significant top-ups for the premier, opposition leaders and cabinet ministers.

Members who live more than 100 kilometres from Halifax are given a living allowance, and they each have a budget for their constituency offices. The last increase in the base salary was in 2013.

Houston had signalled ahead of the Speaker’s announcement that he was open to a review, despite having blocked the last recommended pay increase in July 2022. At the time, he convened an emergency session of the legislature to pass a bill rescinding a 12.6 per cent pay hike that was part of binding recommendations made by an independent review panel.

Houston had said that stopping the salary increase was necessary because the public was struggling with high inflation.

“The compensation hasn’t changed in over a decade,” Houston said in an interview Thursday, adding that he’s heard stories of the increasing financial pressures faced by many members of the legislature.

“I think I could have faith in that panel that has been put together … and I’m definitely open-minded to hear what they have to say,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 19, 2024.

Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press