“Offering competitive salaries will attract highly talented and qualified people who will do the best job possible.”
This is typically the argument presented by apologists who defend obscene compensations for overpaid executives of major corporations — Crown or privately owned — who earn in hours or days what the rest of us toil all year, or longer, to make.
So why this philosophy, which admittedly puts a valid point on the table, apparently does not apply to our teachers, nurses, and emergency personnel is completely beyond my humble ability to comprehend.
Because suddenly, when we’re talking about those who educate our children, heal and care for us when we are ill, and come rushing to our aid in our most desperate moments, some don’t seem to think they’re worth investing in.
Personally, as a taxpayer, I have no problem with our educators and health-care workers being given appealing compensations. I don’t know about anyone else, but even though I don’t have any kids, I want the best teachers. Even though I infrequently find myself stopping by the clinic, I want the best health-care professionals.
These dedicated professionals are crucial pillars that uphold our society and represent an invaluable investment in our collective future. If the provincial government considers balancing the budget by slashing wages because another neighbouring province pays less, I don't think that's the right approach, and is akin to a race to the bottom.
Unfortunately, some people are eager to argue that some of Alberta’s public servants are overpaid when compared with their counterparts in other provinces. However, I would instead submit that other provinces are underpaying their employees.
The sad fact is we live in a time when a household income of $100,000 a year in Alberta barely qualifies as the middle class. And reaching that level of a public sector salary grid takes years.
I wonder why some people are so fast to make excuses for grossly overpaid private sector executives and investment speculators while getting bent out of shape over what amounts to barely middle class income pay for servants who make our society a better place.
For decades, long before the NDP was ever in power, Alberta was allowed by past conservative governments to become over-dependent on natural resource revenues, and many of us seem to struggle with the new reality our province faces — those days are history.
But cutting pay of public sector workers, who might well end up relocating to find another province offering better compensation, by extension resulting in a brain drain, is not the way to go. These folks are major contributors to our economy — they own homes and buy products and services like anyone else.
They should certainly not be punished because for a half century, successive provincial governments lacked vision and erroneously assumed the oil and gas gravy train would forever be our guaranteed path to prosperity.
