As far as I can tell, the government doesn’t release any details as to how much the pension plan for provincial MLAs is costing taxpayers each year and what its liabilities are in the future.

That doesn’t make a lot of sense does it? Just a hidden bill for taxpayers?

I recently decided to look into the matter after NDP leadership candidate Theresa Oswald proposed a new pension plan for the masses (although interestingly enough she doesn’t think her plan is good enough to put MLAs into the plan – see my Twitter exchange with her).

I contacted the legislature and asked for copies of the MLA pension plan’s annual financial report and actuarial report, but was refused.

I was told the regulations for the MLA pension plan doesn’t state anything about being required to disclose the report annually to the public so the individual didn’t feel they had the authority to release it (click here to see the regs).

I noted the regulations also don’t say the report is “confidential,” but that argument didn’t seem to get me anywhere. 

The Structure of the Plan

Most government employee pension plans involve an employee putting in a certain percentage of their income each year and the government matching it. For example, Joe the bureaucrat might put in 7% and the government would also typically put in 7%.

The employee is guaranteed a set payout for life (upon retirement) and if the fund doesn’t have enough money, then both the employee and employer put in more money each year. Thus, both might have to put in 9% annually.

For MLAs, it’s quite different. The MLA pension plan requires MLAs to put in 7% and they’re then guaranteed a payout for the rest of their life. As for the government, it’s required to put in whatever is “necessary to ensure that the pension fund has sufficient assets to pay the pensions and other liabilities of the fund as they come due.”

Could it be that MLAs are putting in 7% while the government (taxpayers) is putting in 10% to keep the plan afloat? 11%? 12%? Who knows?! Without the annual reports, it’s not clear what’s going on.

Questions

As the financial reports aren’t disclosed, here are a few questions that come to mind:

1)   How much did taxpayers put in each year over the last ten years versus how much the government put in annually? (Broken out year by year)

2)   What is that in terms of contribution rates? (Percentage)

3)   What is the plan’s unfunded liability? (Is there one?) 

Speaker’s Office

I was told that financial reports for the MLA plan are provided to the Speaker’s office and the Minister of Finance’s office. The Speaker himself told me that he would look into the matter and speak with Michael Werier about disclosure (Note: Werier is the province’s appointee who makes decision on MLA compensation, their expense account rules, etc.)

I’ve since spoken with Mr. Werier and subsequently sent an email to him and the Speaker to try and get the ball moving on this issue. However, it might take some friendly encouragement – or media attention – to get things moving things along.

Care to help? Try asking the Speaker’s office for the last few Annual Reports of the MLA pension plan as well as the latest Actuarial Reports – [email protected] 

Finally

To be clear, I don’t think the MLA pension plan is anything like the one federal MPs receive. However, it’s still likely far more generous than Joe public tends to receive (most people don't have a workplace pension let alone guaranteed pension payouts).

While Mr. Werier’s report shows several other politician pension plans in the country are more generous, we would respectfully note that their plans are also out of line with what Joe taxpayer receives in terms of retirement benefits.

I should also note that your local MLA probably has no idea that the plan’s reports aren’t released to the public each year. Thus, I wouldn’t criticize individual MLAs for being ‘secretive’ on this issue. I think it truly is an issue that has been flying below the radar…

UPDATE: Since posting this blog entry, I found some detail on the cost of "retirement provisions" for the legislative assembly; estimated to be $3.3 million in 2014-15 However, it's not clear how much that expense encompases - does that include staff pension costs as well? And it's still not clear how that figure compares with MLA contributions.