Speaker of N.S. legislature appoints panel to review MLA pay

Nova Scotia's Speaker of the House has tapped three long-serving bureaucrats to review MLA pay, living expenses and office budgets, all of which have been frozen for nearly a decade.

It is law in Nova Scotia that 60 days after every general election, "the Speaker shall appoint three persons to make an inquiry and a report" on the salaries and top-ups earned by the premier, members of cabinet, as well as opposition leaders, the Speaker and others who hold House positions.

In the past, each of the three main parties have nominated panel members, but newly re-elected Premier Tim Houston indicated this week that he wanted to change the approach. He said he wants to "remove the politics."

In a news release issued late Wednesday afternoon, the Speaker's office announced its panel:

• Tracey Taweel, executive deputy minister to the premier and head of the public service.
• Kelliann Dean, deputy minister of the Department of Finance and Treasury Board.
• Jennifer Glennie, deputy minister of the Department of Justice.

"There is no one who better understands the role, responsibilities and commitment of MLAs to the province," Speaker Danielle Barkhouse said in the release. "I have the utmost respect for their independence and their unimpeachable non-partisanship."

Barkhouse's office said the government has hired accounting firm Deloitte to prepare a report on MLA remuneration. It said that if the panel finds the report is "not valuable or relevant," it can look for other support in making its recommendations.

Liberal House leader Iain Rankin agreed with the need to keep politics out of decisions related to MLA compensation, but he said in a statement that it is important for all parties to be involved in preliminary discussions.

"We look forward to engaging with the panel and hearing their recommendations," he said.

According to the House of Assembly Act,  the panel's recommendations will be due Feb. 24. The recommendations are meant to be binding. However, in his first term, Houston recalled the House for a one-day sitting to block recommendations that would have resulted in pay raises.

Then-premier Stephen McNeil's Liberal government passed legislation ahead of the 2017 election that blocked the required pay review. MLA pay has remained at $89,234.90 since a freeze brought in by McNeil in 2015. There are top-ups for cabinet ministers, the premier and opposition leaders.

For comparison, councillors for Halifax Regional Municipality were paid $103,608.05 in 2023-24.