November 23, 2007
How much do we pay our MLAs?
NUNATSIAQ NEWS
Nunavut MLAs - as they do every year - disclosed their annual pay, benefit and expense figures in a document tabled Nov. 2 during the past sitting of the legislative assembly.
The pay system works like this:
Every member gets a basic "MLA indemnity" of $68,543.
On top of that, they get extra indemnities, depending on which positions they hold and what extra duties they perform, as well as northern allowance payments that are the same as those paid to unionized Nunavut government employees.
The premier receives a special additional indemnity of $70,096, and the deputy premier receives a special additional indemnity of $64,551.
All other cabinet members get an extra indemnity of $59,005. The speaker gets an extra indemnity of $46,966.
Regular members received annual committee and "extra duty" indemnities. Those amounts range from about $2,000 to more than $12,000 a year, depending on whether the member serves as a committee chair and how many committees the member serves on.
On top of these basic salaries, MLAs also receive expense allowances when they travel on assembly or constituency business.
These annual allowances are not considered part of an MLA's income. They range from about $12,000 to more than $30,000 per member, covering accommodation, meals, taxis and incidentals.
Last, MLAs receive an annual budget to maintain a constituency office, ranging from about $40,000 to about $100,000 per member, depending on the community.
Here's the list of MLAs and their total salary payments for the period between April 1, 2006 and March 31, 2007. Expense allowances are not included in these figures:
Cabinet and Speaker:
Paul Okalik (Premier): $150,747
Patterk Netser: $142,506
Louis Tapardjuk: $142,237
Levinia Brown: $145,202
Olayuk Akesuk: $139,656
Ed Picco: $139,656
Leona Aglukkaq: $139,656
David Simailak: $139,343
Peter Kilabuk (Speaker): $131,624
Regular members:
Levi Barnabas: $100,685
James Arreak: $98,832
Joe Evyagotailuk: $98,189
Steve Mapsalak: $95,358
David Alagalak: $93,535
Keith Peterson: $93,442
Hunter Tootoo: $92,382
Tagak Curley: $91,064
Peter Kattuk: $90,752
Jobie Nutarak (to April 21, 2006): $78,043
James Arvaluk: (from Oct. 16, 2006): $41,895
