No protests for pension plan amendment

PATRICIA D’SOUZA

MLAs easily passed Bill 39, An Act to Amend the Supplementary Retiring Allowances Act on Friday, legislation that could both lead to their defeat in the next election and make them instantly wealthy.

It will become law after Commissioner Peter Irniq gives it royal assent.

Four MLAs opted out of the supplementary pension plan, which was passed last March amid great controversy and protest. But only three MLAs voted against the amendment.

Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo voted in favour of the amendment because it adds a layer of transparency, requiring the speaker annually to read out the names of all MLAs who have opted in to the plan.

The other two Iqaluit MLAs, Paul Okalik and Ed Picco, as well as Quttiktuq MLA Rebekah Williams, raised their hands in opposition to the bill when a vote was called.

All four left the chamber as the bill was being discussed in committee of the whole.

The amendment allows MLAs to collect their pensions within five, 10 or 15 years after ceasing to be an MLA. By choosing the early option, young MLAs could rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars – the full amount they are entitled to if they live to age 69.

But, of course, they have no way of knowing how long they will live.

In addition, the money they would collect would be grossly in excess of the amount they have contributed out of their own earnings – and would consist largely of government funds.

In March 2001, Iqaluit East MLA Ed Picco told members that he voted against the enriched plan because his constituents asked him to.

“A majority of my constituents have said they don’t support the pension raise. I’m dissenting because my constituents told me they don’t support it,” he said during the committee of the whole discussion of the bill.

While MLAs discussed the bill inside the chamber last March, protesters carrying neon signs marched in front of the legislative assembly, decrying the attack on public funds.

During the discussion of the amendment last week, there was no such dissent. The bill passed silently, without any public comment from the four MLAs who opted out.

Tootoo later said that he wished he had opted in and collected his supplementary pension in a trust fund to be donated to charity. However, once an MLA opts out of the fund there is no going back.

But that’s a rule decided by the current assembly. Members of the next assembly, to be elected in February, could rewrite the rules, or throw out the supplementary pension plan entirely.

Anything could happen. And it’s all up to the voters.