EDMONTON, AB (June 30, 2016): Today’s updated release of Alberta’s sunshine list shows the NDP government, along with the previous government in charge, added 474 names to Alberta’s sunshine list while tens of thousands of Albertans were losing their jobs, the Wildrose Official Opposition said Thursday.
According to the NDP government’s own data, in 2013, there were 3547 ministry staff with salaries above the disclosure limit. In 2014, it climbed by 100 to 3557. In 2015, under the leadership of the previous government and the NDP government after taking office in May, that number skyrocketed to 4031. The number of government employees making over $200,000 a year has more than doubled since 2013 from 47 to 112.
“The NDP government is completely out of touch with what is happening to everyday Albertans across our province,” Wildrose Shadow Finance Minister Derek Fildebrandt said. “While tens of thousands of Albertans have lost their jobs and many more have seen their pay cut or their hours scaled back, times have never been better for friends of the NDP hired on to work in government departments.”
Additional layers of bureaucracy go directly against the proposals that have been made by Wildrose to bring spending in line and find efficiencies in government, common sense ideas that to date the NDP government has ignored.
“Wildrose has been leading the charge for increased accountability and disclosure when it comes to taxpayer dollars,” Wildrose Shadow Democracy and Accountability Minister Jason Nixon said. “While the NDP government did disclose these ABC and ministry staff salaries, they have made the disclosures difficult to navigate, and now we know why. There is bad news and waste of taxpayer dollars that they didn’t want Albertans to know about.”
Wildrose will continue to be on the side of everyday Albertans, urging the NDP government to find efficiencies and respect taxpayer dollars, instead of hiring on more of their friends to lucrative contracts.