Saskatchewan MLA salaries among highest in North America, report finds

MLAs that represent the citizens of Saskatchewan are among the highest-paid politicians in North America, according to a report released by the Canadian Taxpayers Foundation (CTF).

Saskatchewan MLA’s earn a base salary of more than $110,000 per year, which is significantly higher than their American counterparts, the CTF reported.

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Evan Bray spoke with the CTF’s prairie director — Gage Haubrich — on Thursday to discuss the report and whether our politicians are overpaid.

Listen to the full interview or read the transcript below:

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

EVAN BRAY: Saskatchewan MLAs, and lots of Canadian MLAs are clearly making more than American state representatives, what are your opening thoughts on that?

GAGE HAUBRICH: You always hear the line that people say, “Well, we need to pay our politicians the big money if we want to get big results. If we want big results for taxpayers.”

In this subnational politician pay report, it essentially busts that myth and shows that you don’t need to pay your politicians the big salaries to get big results. And often, paying them lower seems to lead to better results.

A Saskatchewan MLA earns a base salary around that $113,000 mark. The median American state legislator earns $45,000 and despite the extra pay that those Saskatchewan politicians are taking, Saskatchewan is poorer than 23 American states and charges higher combined top marginal tax rates than 46.

You only have to look slightly south of the border for a great example. North Dakota pays their state legislators about $10,000 a year, and it’s significantly richer per person than Saskatchewan. So, we’re out here paying our politicians the big bucks, but we’re not getting those big results.

BRAY: Is it a direct comparison, a state versus a Canadian province?

HAUBRICH: It’s probably the closest comparison we could do in subnational jurisdictions. We look at other countries around the world, but it’s not organized in the same way.

Of course, there are some minute differences, but we’re also not talking about minute differences in salaries either. We’re talking $113,000 to $45,000 for somewhat different responsibilities. I don’t know if that justifies double the pay that we’re seeing in Canada, especially with not nearly close to double the results in any scenario.

But to go back to the Canada-specific example, Saskatchewan MLAs are only paid more than three other provinces in the Confederation, but Saskatchewan is the second richest province in the Confederation. If you’re just doing the Canadian comparison, we’re paying our politicians not as much as other places, but we’re getting a little bit better results than other places in Canada as well. So, there’s not that connection, either.

BRAY: I see Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland are lower than Saskatchewan. However, politicians in Manitoba, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec, Ontario, those are all paid higher than Saskatchewan. Is it fair to say that the quality of the politician is based on the salary they make, and we should see those results in GDP or tax structure?

HAUBRICH: The job of a politician is to try and spend taxpayer dollars the best way they can. So, that means taking as little taxes as possible, make that efficient, as well as deliver economic prosperity for the place that they govern. And if you’re doing a good job, people expect to get paid more. But we’re seeing states doing a much better job than our politicians here, and they’re getting paid less.

BRAY: Would it be a better comparison just to look within provinces in Canada? What do is the takeaway from this report?

HAUBRICH: Well, I think the number one thing to take away from the report is that it’s not clear that paying politicians more means better results for taxpayers, and that’s something you hear, not as much in Saskatchewan, but all across the country.

Politicians, they stand up when they take their annual pay raise every April and say we have to pay people more to get big results. That’s a line that’s often said in this report, even if it doesn’t necessarily say that paying people less means better results, it certainly says that paying people more doesn’t mean better results.

BRAY: Do we have too many MLAs? 

HAUBRICH: I’ll always land on the side of more democratic representation than less.

If you have an MLA who has less constituents, you can be more accountable to that smaller number of constituents. But when we’re looking at that accountability angle, I think that also goes back to the salary.

So the average Saskatchewanian earns about $67,000 a year. When the base salary for a politician is $113,000, it’s a little bit harder for them to understand what that person, who is earning $45,000 more a year, is going through every day.

If we get it closer to that average Saskatchewan salary, the politicians are better able to understand the concerns of their constituents a little bit more and figure out how they can afford to live on that wage, versus a wage that’s $45,000 higher.