Longtime B.C. Liberal MLA Kevin Krueger has announced he will not run in the May 2013 election, meaning his taxpayer-funded pension could be worth up to $1.5 million.

Krueger, a former Minister of Social Development, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Arts and Minister of Community Development, has announced that he will not run again in Kamloops-South Thompson.

Krueger, if he bought back into the full MLA pension plan, will receive an annual pension of about $87,700 at age 65, increasing every year to more than 115,700 annually, should he live to be 80 years old. That works out to a lifetime pension of about $1.5 million.

In the 1996 election, Krueger and his fellow B.C. Liberals ran against what they called “gold-plated” MLA pension plans. After winning the 1996 election, the NDP substantially reduced MLA pensions, but the B.C. Liberal government brought back a gold-plated system in 2007, allowing MLAs to buy back service in the more lucrative system. While the government has refused to release a list of who bought back in, the CTF has only heard, anecdotally, of one MLA who did not purchase the missing service years. Last year, Premier Christy Clark told Global TV that she too bought back the missing years.

The CTF is not opposed to MLAs receiving pensions, if they are fair and similar to what the private sector does—a dollar-for-dollar contribution plan, similar to what the NDP passed in 1996. But our research has shown that B.C. taxpayers put in more than $4 for every dollar the politicians pay. That’s far too sweet a package, given the difficult economic times and provincial deficit we are facing.

On top of the pensions, retiring MLAs are eligible for up to 15 months of salary after they leave office. If an MLA gets a job before the end of the 15-month assistance period, the assistance is terminated—but if that job has an annual salary below $101,859, the taxpayer is on the hook for the difference.