Speaker details constituency costs

Nova Scotia MLAs who hired extra constituency staff or topped up their assistants' salaries can expect a letter from the Speaker's Office, detailing that spending over three years.

It's the latest move in the scandal over inappropriate MLA expenses revealed by the auditor general.

In a recent report, Auditor General Jacques Lapointe questioned whether nearly $200,000 in bonuses and extra salaries to constituency assistants were properly handled and accounted for.

Lapointe flagged those payments as possibly being innappropriate because it was unclear whether the proper taxes and CPP contributions were made.

Speaker Charlie Parker said Wednesday there will be proper paperwork, including T4s, for last year's salaries and bonuses, unlike in previous years.

"We're going back through our records," Parker said. "Letters will be going out to the individual employees, once we can identify who they were, identifying that there was income earned and it's their responsibility to report that to Revenue Canada."

Parker wouldn't identify individual MLAs and what they paid their staff.

The bonuses ranged from $250 over three years to more than $40,000 over the same period.

New Democrat Deputy Premier Frank Corbett later said that all New Democrat MLAs will release their figures because it's important for the public to know how their money is being spent.

"It's money through the public purse. This is what's been rolling out these past two weeks. We think it's more important that we get those numbers out there," he said.

Corbett said he never topped up his assistant's salary over the past three years.

Karen Casey, interim Progressive Conservative leader, told reporters she paid her constituency assistant a bonus of $1,000 for each of the three years she's been an MLA.

"Our CAs, and I can only speak for my own, does a lot of extra overtime travelling to meetings and doing work that is beyond the normal pay that she would receive," said Casey, who often sends her assistant to events she can't attend.

Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil said he paid $4,000 over three years for overtime and out-of-pocket expenses to his constituency assistant.

But, he said he's not in favour of releasing the complete list of what Liberal MLAs paid their assistants.

"This is a very delicate situation, and I'm going to tell you why. Since this story broke, constituency assistants in every party and every office, have beeen fielding phone calls and, quite frankly, taking heat for MLAs, and for decisions that we have made as individuals and as a group. I don't believe it's appropriate to put the focus on them," McNeil said.