B.C. premier rescinds post-elections staff raises, says they send wrong message

VICTORIA – Premier Christy Clark says she made a mistake and has rescinded post-election pay increases for the government's top political staff.

Clark says the raises send the wrong message to British Columbians who heard during the recent election campaign that the Liberals want to rein in government spending and balance the budget.

A June 3 cabinet order boosted the maximum salary of her chief of staff by 18 per cent up to $230,000 a year and some ministerial assistants saw their annual salaries increase from $94,000 to $105,000.

Despite the earlier raises, the Liberals insisted total budget for staff in ministerial offices decreased with restructuring to $5.711 million from $5.741 million.

Opposition New Democrat Leader Adrian Dix says the raises revealed how out-of-touch the Liberals are with ordinary British Columbians.

The NDP used government documents to make the salary issue public.