Well the job of MLA, except for those from Victoria, is much like that of any worker who doesn’t live near the work site. So how about a camp in Victoria for MLAs? Complete with bunkhouses, a mess hall, activity centre, etc …
Basically I’m saying the taxpayer gives them a bunch of money to do a job for us and they have little accountability for how they spend that money - let alone actually have the ethics to do it as cheap as possible within reason … and let’s not forget they also make $101K per year so how much of their “work” expenses do we really need to cover …
[quote=“JJR”]Well the job of MLA, except for those from Victoria, is much like that of any worker who doesn’t live near the work site. So how about a camp in Victoria for MLAs? Complete with bunkhouses, a mess hall, activity centre, etc …
Basically I’m saying the taxpayer gives them a bunch of money to do a job for us and they have little accountability for how they spend that money - let alone actually have the ethics to do it as cheap as possible within reason … and let’s not forget they also make $101K per year so how much of their “work” expenses do we really need to cover …[/quote]
I agree with you jjr
Companies that send workers out of town as well as government employees are cutting back and everything has to cost affective. You would be surprised what you can rent in Victoria reasonable. Hotel stays @ 165. a day are not sustainable…
People are quick to react but I bet most voted for her maybe next time think about voting for the person not the party. She’s naive and ill informed please take the time to listen to all people running next election. It’s posible NDP isn’t the the end all for us.
I say give a chance people , it is with experience that she will learn the in and outs . It is a bigger arena and think of it how long have we been waiting Jack to act like a mayor and get his stuff together ?
I say at least make her accountable for just what the hell is going on at tax payers expense $9000+ a month is over the top … why is it so high and sorry bad air line connections just don’t cut it
For better or worst, the majority of people who got off their hinnies and went and voted, voted for Ms. Rice.
It was not a particularly high turnout of voters. I believe that this is the result of there being a strong block of NDP supporters in our town and a lot of people do not bother to vote as they think that the NDP candidate is a shoo-in. A second result of the existence of the NDP block is that knowledge of this group, results in the Liberals not being able to get a decent contender to run against whoever the NDP nominates.
So, despite Ms. Rice’s poor showing at council meetings, “we” elected her and now we have a rookie NDP. I doubt she will be particularly effective as she did not seem to do much on City Council. The only thing she advocated for was a Chicken Raising Bylaw. If my memory is correct, she spoke out against pretty much any development.
So given her ineffective Council track record, I fear that not much will be happening in our little town for quite awhile. Having a local NDP representative will result in there not being much political support at the provincial or federal level to encourage development or help solve our local problems. (I believe that had we had a Liberal representative, I suspect the provincial government would have resolved the City’s issues with Watson Island long ago).
In conclusion, Ms. Rice’s ability to spend $9,000 in a month on “expenses” should be the least of our concerns about her and the future of our town.
no matter who you voted for if someone was posting their expenses online for their constituents to view break it down better. post the receipts so ppl can see exactly what the expenses are for. ie: travel expense misc. was $6.xx what is that for? etc. just saying travel expense, or misc. means nothing. show what it means. after all there have been a few federal politicians and head of government operations that went afoul of their masters when they charged for a pack of gum or for $16 orange juice.
The NDP have posted their expenses online.
The Liberals have not.
But Michael Smyth writes an article that is critical of the NDP for doing so.theprovince.com/news/late+wi … story.html
Jennifer spent $9000 in one month. I am not going to defend it but she gave an explanation, and I will take her at her word that those expenses will be dramatically reduced in the future.
Three Liberal bureaucrats got severance packages of $300,000-400,000 each when they were let go after the election. thetyee.ca/News/2013/08/24/Post- … rance-Pay/ I have no doubt that the Liberals will continue to pay their friends handsomely with our money despite their claims that they need to cut spending.
Jennifer is our MLA and we have every right to criticize her. Not a problem at all. Hold her accountable. Demand action of her.
Just remember that in the scheme of things she is not the problem nor the solution.
I would love to see journalists be as critical of the Liberal government as we have been of our two month on duty MLA.
did you actually read the article, he is not critical for them releasing the information he is critical of them for not bringing it up during the election, when asked about it during the election the NDP said wait and see, he is also saying they should post the receipts as well not just a summary, also it is only for their travel, nothing about general expenses, but in general he applauds them for releasing even a little bit of their expenses