Manitoba MLA office rent allowances are increasing by more than $1,000 a month after some who were priced out of the market were forced to meet with constituents in mall food courts and community centres.
The monthly maximum entitlement for constituency office rent will increase to $2,750 from $1,679, retroactive to April 1.
The increase was determined by Manitoba’s independent commissioner for MLA pay, allowances and retirement benefits, Michael Werier.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
Manitoba MLA office rent allowances are increasing by more than $1,000 a month after some who were priced out of the market were forced to meet with constituents in mall food courts and community centres.
“Numerous members expressed concerns about the adequacy of the allowance and that they were unable to find suitable space in their constituency at that rate,” Werier’s report, released Friday, said.
“Others have rented space at higher levels and used their constituency allowance to pay for the balance.”
It includes modest pay increases for MLAs and other changes to expenses and benefits, as well as the rationale behind them.
In January, some NDP MLAs reported it was almost impossible to find affordable space.
Rookie MLA Mike Moroz, who represents River Heights, had set up shop Friday afternoons at Crescentwood Community Centre to meet with constituents.
MLA Jelynn Dela Cruz connected with her Radisson constituents at Kildonan Place while McPhillips MLA JD Devgan met with people at Garden City Community Centre.
“A constituency office is vital to the work of members and facilitates their service to constituents,” the commissioner said in the 108-page report. In some parts of Winnipeg, MLAs are paying in excess of $2,500 per month and in a few instances more that $3,000 per month.
Meanwhile, the $106,603 basic annual salary for an MLA will increase 2.5 per cent on April 1, 2025 and 2.75 per cent effective April 1, 2026, which is in line with civil service increases, the report said.
After that, a cost-of-living increase — based on the previous, five-year moving average bump in the Manitoba Consumer Price Index — will be applied on April 1, 2027 and April 1 in each of the following years and capped at three per cent.
A $89,333 pay bump for the premier brings his total pay to more than $200,000. The report called the raise fair and said it would mirror the base salary increases for MLAs. The premier’s salary puts him in the middle of the pack among Canadian premiers.
The speaker of the house, cabinet ministers and the leader of the opposition will all see a top-up of $58,364, which will increase 2.5 and 2.75 per cent over the next two years.
The increases are part of a review that the commissioner is mandated to do after an election — except when there’s less than 42 months between elections, as was the case with the Sept. 10, 2019 vote that occurred 40 months after the April 19, 2016 election.
The last review was conducted in 2017, and it showed Manitoba MLA salaries were in the middle of the pack among provinces.
Werier’s role as an independent commissioner who sets MLA pay and allowances — rather than leaving it up to the politicians — was created by legislation passed in 2007. At the time, Manitoba’s premier was the lowest-paid in Canada.
He is appointed by the Legislative Assembly Management Commission that oversees the financial management of the legislature and establishes budgets and administrative policies for its offices.
The commissioner’s review process takes several factors into consideration, including input from lobby groups, the state of the Manitoba economy, its standing compared to other jurisdictions across the country, and what other provinces pay their MLAs.
“It’s not a scientific formula but you sort of balance all the factors and you look at what’s being done in other provinces and you come up with a figure which as an independent reviewer of it consider to be fair and reasonable, recognizing the role of an MLA and their responsibilities,” Werier said Friday.
“In the report there’s a lot of figures. It shows you what the increases have been and it shows you the differences across Canada. The attempt is to place Manitoba at or near the middle in terms of other jurisdictions.”
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Manitoba increases MLA office rent allowances amid struggles to secure affordable space
Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
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