Nova Scotia MLAs getting 29% pay raise
Nova Scotia provincial politicians are set to receive their first pay raise in over a decade, as announced in a recent report released by a panel of senior provincial bureaucrats. The base salaries for Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) will be increased to $115,000 from $89,234, marking the first salary hike since 2013.
In addition to the base salary increase, several top-up positions will also see bumps in pay. The premier, for instance, will receive $115,748 in addition to their base MLA salary, up from $101,545. Similarly, top-ups for the House Speaker, cabinet ministers, and the leader of the Official Opposition will be increased by more than $14,000 to $63,250.
Other positions in the legislature, such as the leader of a recognized party and the deputy speaker, will also see smaller pay increases as part of the salary adjustments. NDP Leader Claudia Chender expressed that she and her caucus are still reviewing the changes and emphasized the importance of fair compensation for MLAs from all backgrounds.
The pay raise recommendations were put forth by the panel appointed last December, which made both binding and non-binding suggestions on remuneration. The report also includes a non-binding recommendation of a $16,000 top-up for ministerial assistants, a role that Premier Tim Houston recently assigned to members of his caucus who are not cabinet ministers.
While the pay raise comes after nearly a decade of frozen salaries for MLAs, it is a significant shift from 2022 when legislation was passed to block a planned pay raise recommended by a previous remuneration panel. The panel had highlighted the need for competitive base pay to attract qualified candidates to politics, a sentiment echoed by retiring Liberal MLA Keith Irving last year.
In addition to the salary adjustments, the panel also suggested offering rental assistance to MLAs living 50 kilometers or more from Province House, down from 100 kilometers, and increasing the rental assistance to $2,100 a month to better reflect the Halifax rental market. The panel also recommended increasing funding for constituency offices, following an incident in December 2023 where a constituency worker was assaulted, prompting calls for increased staffing.
The binding recommendations in the panel report are retroactive to December, signaling a significant change in the compensation structure for Nova Scotia politicians. The conversation around MLA compensation has been ongoing, with the latest adjustments aiming to strike a balance between attracting qualified individuals to public office and ensuring fair remuneration for elected officials.
