Publius read with interest former Manitoba Hydro’s former Chief Financial Officer’s claim that the Utility is in “the strongest financial position in its history” – Manitoba Hydro finances on firm footing (Winnipeg Free Press, November 25, 2013). Mr. Warden...
Public Sector
Politician Salaries: You Get What You Pay For
This year’s federal budget included a 1.6 percent salary increase for MPs. Backbench MPs will now make $160,200, with salaries for cabinet ministers and party leaders topping out at $320,000 for the Prime Minister. As always, this pay increase sparked populist...
CEO Compensation, Politicians’ Salaries, and NHL PLayers
Conservative activists often take issue with what they consider excessive pay and perks for politicians. Social democratic activists get riled up over the large salaries commanded by CEOs. Both often do so on an emotional rather than a logical basis. A myopic focus on...
High Wages Attract Better Politicians
The Frontier Centre has released a backgrounder today entitled CEO Compensation, Politicians’ Salaries, and NHL Players. The author of the paper is Steve Lafleur, a policy analyst with the Frontier Centre. The backgrounder examines the relationship between...
Featured News
Timeless Wisdom – The Politics of Successful Structural Reform
It’s a well-known pattern in public policy – profligate politicians damaging their economies with out-of-control spending, massive borrowing and higher taxes – inevitably leading to fiscal crisis, sharp declines in growth and ultimately rapidly falling currency value...
Canada’s National Hysteria in the 21st Century
Mass hysteria is the spontaneous manifestation of a particular behaviour by many people. There are numerous historical examples: Middle Age nuns at a convent in France spontaneously began to meow like cats; at another convent, nuns began biting one another. In...
Freezing Government Wages is Prudent Cost-Control: Public Sector Wage Growth is Not Smart Economic Stimulus
Manitoba’s decision to freeze wage growth for its highly paid public sector employees will help ensure the province’s fiscal health, and arguments that the policy will hurt the economy are based on weak economic arguments.
Ottawa’s Peter Pan Budget: The new budget is not a serious attempt at reining in spending
The new federal budget was created on a wish and a prayer, on a hope the world economy recovers instead of soberly facing up to the possibility that Canada’s federal government should get our fiscal house in order.
The Global Fiscal Crisis: The future of public spending
The Executive Director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable has some insightful thoughts for the world at large in a new Frontier Centre Backgrounder.
Align Public Sector Incentives With the Private Sector: How to make government work long-term
If Canadian governments wish to rein in spending and avoid long-term liabilities, put public sector pensions on a track to matching contributions, not defined benefits, says Mark Milke.
Capitalism: A True Love Story
Steve Forbes and Elizabeth Ames explore the negative impact government regulation has on open markets. Worth a look from Forbes Magazine.
Manitoba’s Unsustainable Government Pay Premium : Manitoba taxpayers foot the bill for unusually high public servant salaries
The average provincial public administration employee in Manitoba earns 50 per cent higher wages than the average worker in the province. By comparison, the pay premium in neighbouring Saskatchewan is just 31 per cent.
Administrators’ wages are cause for concern
“Frontier Centre released a report recently fingering Manitoba’s provincial government as having a larger and more expensive public sector than most other provinces. The report looked at the number of administrators per 100,000 population, and compared their average salary levels to those of other administrators in the province.”
Rapid Wage Growth for Federal Public Servants
In 1991, federal public servants enjoyed a “pay premium” of 34% compared to the average weekly wage earned by individuals working in other occupations. In 2008, the gap was 59%. FC051
Media Release – Manitoba’s Public Sector is Larger, More Expensive than Most
This paper compares public administration employment rates in each province to the national average.