Aw, those poor pauper mayors and councillors struggling at Metro Vancouver. You can almost see them huddled together, trying to scrape by on their meager stipends.

That’s the nonsense Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie would have you believe in today’s Vancouver Sun. Brodie was one of the vocal critics of a proposed Metro policy which would have seen directors’ pay for various events cut from $346 to $100. Brodie and his cronies managed to get the policy referred back to staff for tweaking (read: more of your money!).

“For an event out of town, you’re taken away from family, you’re at an event all day and it consumes all your energy,” said Brodie. “What you see in public is just a fraction of what you’re actually doing.”

Memo to Brodie and his colleagues: no one holds a gun to your head to send you out of town, on our dime, to fancy schmancy conferences (recent Metro director trips have included Florence, Italy; Washington, D.C.; Bonn, Germany; and Melbourne, Australia. Tough life, ain’t it folks? 

Brodie is the one who collected $692 in fees for Metro Vancouver’s recent Zero Waste conference. As we reported Monday, every keynote speaker and expert waived their speaking fees and honorariums to save taxpayer money—except the five Metro politicians, who collected more than $2,000 in fees: Brodie, Delta Mayor Lois Jackson, Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan, Vancouver councillor Andrea Reimer (the conference was held in her city!) and Surrey councillor Marvin Hunt.

Think about that for a moment: Malcolm Brodie was paid more to be at that Zero Waste conference than every other speaker. Money well spent?

PS: Brodie was paid $130,000+ last year by Richmond and Metro taxpayers.