If you want more good people to run for provincial politics, don’t pay them more - just give MLAs real power.
That was one of the points I made during last night’s #YYJChat about provincial politics and party discipline on Twitter.
Yet that’s exactly the opposite of what has happened in British Columbia.
Because of party discipline, provincial legislators don’t have a lot of power. But thanks to a 2007 independent commission that reviewed MLA compensation, they got a lot more pay - with their base salary increasing by 29 percent.
That increase was, in part, “designed to attract and retain talented people from all walks of life” to serve as MLAs.
In my experience, however, good people first think about getting into politics because they want to change the world - not because they want a big paycheque.
So wouldn’t it make more sense to just give MLAs a bigger role in the governance of the province?
Former Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca MP Keith Martin - who called for a weakening of federal party discipline in a March 2008 National Post op-ed - agreed that same principle applies at the federal level.
Meanwhile, Tofino mayor Josie Osborne stated party discipline is one of the reasons why she’s involved in municipal rather than provincial politics.
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