On the first hot Tuesday in August, the PC, NDP and Liberal MLAs on the Member Services Committee added $6,750 per year to their compensation. This Committee also increased the basic severance pay for defeated or retiring MLAs from a generous $27,000 to an obscene $62,000. MLAs will now receive three months' severance pay for every year of service.

Called an "RRSP allowance," the extra $6,750 will be paid to MLAs in addition to their $41,052 salary and their $20,526 tax-free allowance. This new $6,750 can be put into an RRSP, or spent on a nice trip to Vegas - that's up to each MLA to decide.

In light of the $20,526 being tax free, MLAs already earn the equivalent of $69,600. The salaries and tax-free allowances of MLAs increase automatically every year, to keep up with inflation. So this extra $6,750 amounts to a raise of almost 10%.

Do you remember MLAs talking about giving themselves a 10% raise in the last provincial election, held just 5 months ago Or increasing their severance pay to three months for every year served

Have you been asked your opinion on what MLA compensation should be

Was there an independent commission or committee to study the question of MLA compensation, and make a recommendation

Was there a vote in the Legislature for all Albertans to observe

Will this 10% pay hike for MLAs start only after the next provincial election

The answers are no, no, no, no and no . . . and that's the problem.

Our 83 MLAs have no mandate from February's election to increase their pay. There has been no meaningful input from the taxpaying public. There was no independent body to study the issue and come up with an unbiased proposal on how much MLAs should be paid. There was no vote in the Legislature. This 10% pay hike, and the increased level of severance pay, take effect immediately, not after the next provincial election in 2005.

You will hear MLAs arguing that they deserve to earn $76,000 per year. And perhaps they do - but that's not the point. The point is that the current process is sneaky, unprincipled, unaccountable, and a blatant conflict of interest.

Would politicians like to stop hearing complaints about their compensation from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation If so, they will change the process by which MLA salaries and benefits are determined.

First, the process must have meaningful input from Albertans, at election time and between elections. Second, the process must include an independent body which looks at MLA compensation and makes unbiased recommendations. Third, a specific proposal must be debated and voted on in the Legislature, in full public view. Fourth, changes to MLA compensation must not come into effect until after the next provincial election. That would eliminate the conflict of interest which now exists when MLAs from three parties happily cooperate to increase their own pay.

If Ralph Klein's government changed the process, Alberta taxpayers would be more accepting of the result. Ralph Klein demonstrated leadership by abolishing the gold-plated MLA Pension Plan in 1993. It's time to show leadership again, by changing the process of how MLA compensation is determined.