$ 12,000 fundraiser for UCP MLA, a ‘slap in the face’ for Alberta workers: Independents, NDP MLA

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A committee voted Monday to award a $ 12,096 raise to House Deputy Leader Joseph Schow, drawing ire from the NDP and independent MLAs.

At the Member Services Committee meeting, United Conservative Party (UCP) MLA Dan Williams made a motion to grant Schow, UCP MLA for Cardston-Siksika a raise for his lead role in the legislature, said the MLA in a press release Monday.

“This position is generally filled by a cabinet minister and does not generate any additional pay, but Schow has been repeatedly turned down for a cabinet position,” the statement said.

Nathan Neudorf, Mike Ellis, RJ Sigurdson, Dan Williams and Martin Long of UCP voted in favor of the increase. All NDP MLAs and independent MLAs Todd Loewen and Drew Barnes opposed.

“At the same time that the UCP is laying off and cutting the wages of heroic healthcare workers, they decided to give one of their MLA a 10 percent raise,” said Thomas Dang, committee member and NDP MLA for Edmonton-South . “The members of this government are the last people in this province who deserve a raise.

“Workers and small businesses are fighting the devastating fourth wave of COVID caused by the negligence of the UCP,” added Dang. “For a UCP backbencher to get a $ 12,000 raise while thousands of Albertans fall ill each week, and thousands more have canceled their life-saving surgeries, is a slap in the face to all Albertans who have worked so hard and they have sacrificed so much much. “

In a separate press release from the two independents, Loewen, MLA for Central Peace-Notley, who called Prime Minister Jason Kenney “Canada’s least popular Prime Minister,” also accused him of using all means to reward his circle. intimate while punishing those who disagreed. .

“This is the kind of cynical policy that the vast majority of Albertans oppose,” Loewen said.

“Albertans deserve better, especially during these tough times,” said Barnes, MLA of Cypress-Medicine Hat. “Earlier this year, I decided to voluntarily reduce my salary through a donation to local charities, in solidarity with Albertans who lost their jobs and income as part of the Jason Kenney closures. For many, those hard times have not disappeared.

Reference-edmontonjournal.com

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