Re: "Retired clerk's deal 'good value,'" Sept. 2.
Remember Canadian senators who could pull in a full paycheque while living in Mexico for months on end and not showing up? It seems like our B.C. legislature has a similar profligacy with taxpayers' dollars.
Our MLAs - of all stripes - do not seem to have a handle on the finances of running the legislature, yet they ask others to pull in their belts. I would like to retire and get my pension yet still collect my regular salary for another two years and say it's "good value for money" - sweet deal if you can get it, but the government feels only senior administrators or bureaucrats have that entitlement.
The former legislative clerk might have advantageous historical knowledge to be called upon as needed and requested for a per-diem rate. If that was the case, the taxpayers would be saving a lot of money as it is apparent his successor is able to handle the duties without such assistance.
Meanwhile, the environment and people in real need get less support and assistance due to cuts in service.
Peter G. Skipper
Lanaimo
