MLAs with causes give up part of raises
Times Colonist
With files from Les Leyne, Lindsay Kines and Jeff Rud
May 27, 2007
EXCERPT

SEASON OF GIVING: In the latest of what we presume will be a parade of announcements from the NDP, Vancouver-Kensington MLA David Chudnovsky says he will donate some of his pay raise to the Westcoast Child Care Resource Centre.

Fellow Opposition MLA Adrian Dix previously pledged to donate to scholarship funds at two Vancouver high schools, while NDP Leader Carole James says she plans to give some of her hike to the cash-strapped Mary Manning Centre in Victoria.

In case you've been living in a cave in the Sooke Hills for the past month, the NDP announced recently that it will vote against the pay-and-pension-hike bill brought in by government, but will also refuse to opt out of the package if it is passed.

NDP MLAs will instead accept the pension plan, but donate the net amount of their raise to causes they say have been hurt by Liberal government policies.

Chudnovsky says the resource centre to which he is donating $2,000 has had its funding chopped by $800,000 under this government.

The pay-raise bill figures to take centre stage this week as the legislature's spring session wraps up. ...