Premier Stephen McNeil mulling pay cut for Nova Scotia politicians

Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil needs more time to consider a pay cut for provincial politicians, but he says if the leader of the Official Opposition wants to, he can cut his now.

Jamie Baillie told CBC News on Monday he is ready to cut his salary if the premier and his cabinet reduce theirs.

That was preceded by an announcement from New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant, who said he was cutting his salary by almost $12,000 and his cabinet ministers by more than $5,000.

McNeil thinks the plan there is to cut public sector salaries too — but that's definitely not the plan in Nova Scotia.

"I want to be clear, we will not be looking for the public servants to have a pay reduction," he told CBC News on Tuesday.

"We will not be asking for any public servant in this province to have their salary reduced."

McNeil said a pay cut for politicians is part of this year's budget deliberations.

"Premiers are making their decisions in their provinces based on what they have, we'll make them in our province based on that."

As for Baillie's offer to cut his salary, McNeil said all Baillie has to do is call the Speaker's office to make that happen.