For Immediate Release
24 May, 2024
The NDP Representative on the House of Assembly Members Compensation Review Committee, Lela Evans (Torngat Mountains) issued the following statement to provide context to proceedings and the vote to recommend the report “How We Value Democracy” be sent to the House of Assembly for further debate.
“Yesterday the Members Compensation Review Committee voted to send the final report of the committee to the House of Assembly for further debate. I as the NDP representative on the committee voted in favour of sending this report to the House of Assembly for debate.
“This decision does not approve the recommendations of the report, and it is not a vote to increase the salaries of Members of the House of Assembly. This vote was to broaden the debate on these recommendations and include all 40 MHAs from across the province in the discussion and happen in full transparency of the public, and media outlets.
“The report “How We Value Democracy” was prepared for the committee, and was an independent review that included 32 recommendations. Among them was a recommendation to increase the compensation paid to MHAs across the province. There has not been an increase since 2009. The recommended amount in the report is staggering to see, and comes at a time when people across the province are struggling to make ends meet. Which is why this discussion must go to the House of Assembly for debate, and why I voted to move this to the House of Assembly so all Members can fully debate the report.
“I, and my colleagues in Caucus, will fully participate in the debate and will make the decision to accept or reject the recommendations after hearing the discussion brought forward from all 40 representatives. We encourage everyone across the province to tune into the debate which is broadcast live online and on local television to hear the discussion and provide feedback and insights to your representative in the House of Assembly before the final vote takes place.”
-30-
For further information, contact Eddy St. Coeur, Director of Communications, NDP Caucus at 729-2137 (o), or eddystcoeur@gov.nl.ca
Comments