New Brusnwick

[mcqueen625]

The Liberals win, and Lord loses.

But what's this I read that NB (pop. 760,000) has 55 MLAs. 55! And each one earns $60,000 per year plus a tax-exempt annual "office" allowance of $25,000. [Link]

What earth shaking decisions does NB face that require all that brain power? What heavy responsibilities justify that salary?

BTW, Maine with about 1.3 million people has about 150 members in its House. They each earn around $10,000 annually. [Link]

We the taxpayers in NB have been asking that for years. We have also been asking, why it is that MLA's can qualify for a fully indexed pansion after serving for a measley 8 consecutive sessions in office. This means that one former Cabinet Minister, Trevor Holder upon being sworn into office on October 4th, qualifies for this pension at 34 years of age. The only jobs this man has ever held in his life since graduation from university is an 18 month stint as an investment advisor. This is hardly someone I would say has any life-skills or experience. All he has to do is skate along as a governmetn hanger-on or practice his hobbies until he can start drawing on that golden parachute.

If politicians qualify for anything I think it should be in allowing them to contribute to an RRSP with equal contributions from government coffers while they are in office. Once they leave office either willing or by defeat at the polls, they take both portions with them to transfer into a locked-in RRSP until they reach the age of 65 years of age. In that way, once the politician leaves office the taxpayers will no longer be obligated in any way financially to these former politicians for the rest of their miserable lives as we now are obligated.