MLA severance pay totals $631K in N.B.
Last Updated: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 | 10:35 PM ET
CBC News
The defeat of 17 sitting Liberal MLAs in the New Brunswick election Monday will cost taxpayers $631,000 in severance payments.
New Brunswick introduced limited severance packages, called re-establishment allowances, in the mid-1990s for MLAs who lost their seats before reaching the eight years required to qualify for a legislature pension.
The money was meant to help ease former members back into the workforce and paid a maximum of $27,000.
But in 2008, MLAs voted to increase the maximum payment to $42,500 and to make the allowances available to everyone — even politicians who quit or retire on a full pension.
The MLAs also voted themselves a controversial 85 per cent increase in pension benefits, giving themselves one of the richest political pension plans in the country.
Liberal MLA Larry Kennedy, who represented Victoria-Tobique, was one of the 17 Liberal MLAs defeated Monday.
The 21-year legislative veteran will receive one of the largest MLA pensions at $74,000 a year. About $30,000 of that is due to the 2008 amendment.
Only three of the Liberal MLAs defeated in the election qualify for a pension. The others did not have enough time in the legislature.
