EDMONTON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) admonished the two opposition parties in the Alberta Legislature today for not asking any questions in Question Period regarding the secret 30% cabinet pay hike, for the second straight day.
"Question Period is the only time opposition parties get to question the government for decisions they make, and they have now gone two straight days without even mentioning the secret pay raises cabinet granted themselves last week," stated CTF-Alberta director Scott Hennig.
"By voting in favour of the $42,000 pay hike for himself in the Members' Services committee, NDP Leader Brian Mason has lost whatever credibility his party gained when they voted against the gold-plated severance payments for MLAs," continued Hennig. "So, it's no big surprise they aren't talking about this."
"However, both of the Liberal MLAs on the Members' Services committee (Taylor and Hehr) voted against these raises. Why are they silent now " questioned Hennig.
The opposition parties had 11 opportunities during Monday's question period and 11 opportunities during Tuesday's question period to hold the government to account on the pay hikes. They did, however, find time to ask questions on issues like the pay scale of land title examiners.
"Many Albertans are rightfully upset about the size of these pay hikes and the secretive manner in which they have been done," concluded Hennig. "They deserve to have an opposition that will ask the government these tough questions."
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