All NDP MLAs receive a new title, and all but one get a raise

Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham (left) and Premier David Eby arrive with fellow ministers before the start of the swearing-in ceremony at Government House in Victoria, B.C., on Wednesday, December 7, 2022.

Premier David Eby’s new cabinet is a big one. Despite winning ten fewer seats than former premier John Horgan, he has three more ministers than the previous leader.

On Tuesday, the day after the cabinet was sworn in, Conservative Leader John Rustad described the NDP as “a bloated government that is giving everybody that’s running for the NDP a top op.”

All the NDP MLAs will receive a new title and will begin with a base salary of just under $120,000 a year. All but one come with salary boosts, before they even start working.

BC Greens leader Sonia Furstenau doesn’t think that’s right.

“You know, you get the bonus after you've demonstrated that you’re very capable and hard working,” said Furstenau on Tuesday.

But each of Eby's 27 cabinet ministers will receive a raise, with just under $60,000 for ministers, and $41,000 for the four junior ministers, plus nearly $18,000 a year for the 14 parliamentary secretaries.

“We do have an inflated cabinet, particularly the number of parliamentary secretaries seems to be excessive to me,” said political science professor Hamish Telford, from the University of the Fraser Valley.

The five MLAs not appointed elsewhere get other titles, including House Speaker and Government Whip. All but one, Rohini Arora, appointed Deputy Caucus Chair, get raises.

That particular title doesn’t come with a raise, although she would receive a pay hike if she’s appointed a committee chair in the coming weeks. Something that could be likely, given all of her other colleagues will be getting a raise.

“The focus needs to be on providing assistance to the people of British Columbia, and it seems instead David Eby is focussed on padding the pocket of his fellow MLAs,” said Rustad.

Telford says Eby may be trying to ensure the loyalty of his team, with a one seat majority.

“Managing caucus relations, if two or three people get left out and they're sitting on the back benches twiddling their thumbs and making mischief, it could derail a government that only has a one or two seat majority,” he said.

Aware of that razor thin majority, especially having lost one of his members is Raj Chouhan, who has been reappointed as House Speaker. Eby said on Monday that his team is intensely negotiating with the BC Greens for its support.

“Absolutely in discussions with the Green Party in making sure we're working with other MLAs, we don’t pretend to have all the answers or the best path forward,” he said.

All NDP MLAs are now vested with titles, most with sizeable raises, as they embark on that path forward.

In terms of impact for taxpayers, the three additional cabinet ministers and one parliamentary secretary appointed by Eby, compared to Horgan’s government, will cost taxpayers $788,000 more over four years.