EDITORIAL: Being an MLA is a full-time job

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/10/2023 (566 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It didn’t take long after the election for the first example of incompetence to rear its ugly head in provincial politics.

Fort Garry NDP MLA Mark Wasyliw was overlooked for a cabinet position and subsequently did what can most aptly be described as throwing a hissy fit.

As he was sworn in on Monday, the petulant MLA refused to shake Premier Wab Kinew’s hand.

This childish display of anger attracted attention while Kinew said the snub did not bother him.

It’s pretty clear who’s taking the high road.

But Wasyliw’s lack of professionalism was not just demonstrated by this one action.

Back in March, the PC party criticized him for continuing to work as a lawyer while holding office as an MLA.

That was something many agreed with.

While there is no law prohibiting MLAs from pursuing outside employment, this is not something that’s generally accepted.

Liberal leader Dougald Lamont told media in March that Wasyliw shouldn’t be doing it.

Of course the PC party took it a step further and tried to use the nature of his work as the issue.

Wasyliw is a defence lawyer. His firm represents defendants in many different cases including sexual assault cases.

When pressed on their mismanagement of the sexual assault nurse examiner program, Rochelle Squires, then the minister of families dodged the question with this inexplicable reply.

“Our government will always stand up for survivors of sexual violence, unlike members opposite,” she said.

It must be noted that defence lawyers are an essential part of our court system.

A defence counsel’s job is making sure someone accused of a crime gets a fair trial. They present evidence and point out flaws in the prosecution’s case.

Our court system depends on people getting a fair trial.

But they were correct on pointing out that an MLA with a side job is not a person who can adequately represent constituents.

An MLA’s responsibilities never end. Even when there’s no business happening in the house there’s plenty of work to be done meeting with stakeholders, researching current issues and being accountable to constituents.

Premier Wab Kinew agreed, telling the Winnipeg Free Press that MLAs should be focusing on the people of Manitoba.

“I think all of us should understand that public service is more than a full-time job,” he said. “I’m saying the expectation is first that you will treat your MLA work as more than a full-time job.”

Perhaps Wasyliw can be forgiven for making this mistake during his last term.

It also seemed that he had learned his lesson, saying in March he would be winding down his practice ahead of the election.

Turns out he cares little for his responsibilities, saying this week that he’ll ramp it back up.

“Given that I’m not in cabinet, I’m going to have a lot of time on my hands and I’m going to be taking more cases and working as a defence lawyer still,” he said.

It’s safe to say that any MLA that has a lot of time on their hands is not doing their job correctly.

Being an MLA is an immense responsibility. There are only 57 that represent all of Manitoba.

Many strong MLAs find it difficult to balance their work in a way to still be present in their families.

The issue is never that there’s nothing to do, but that they must not overachieve and take on too large a workload.

Manitoba compensates MLAs very well. Even a backbencher like Wasyliw would earn a more than generous basic annual salary of $102,998. His role as legislative assistant to education minister Nello Altomare will give him an additional $4,989.

This in a province where the median household income (the level where half of people earn less, and half earn more) is $68,070.

This is not a rural municipality or small town where councillors get paid less than $20,000 and must hold down other jobs while serving their communities.

We will never know why Wab Kinew did not include Wasyliw in his cabinet.

Kinew said there are many considerations to appointing the cabinet, adding that they have many MLAs on their team who could serve as minister.

It’s safe to say that Wasyliw shouldn’t expect a cabinet posting any time soon.

No party leader in their right mind will reward an MLA who thinks so little of their role that they won’t even commit to treating it like the full time job that it is.

Add to that the immature behaviour demonstrated by the Fort Garry MLA and it’s clear that something needs to change.

Perhaps Manitobans and the people of Fort Garry would be better served by Wasyliw considering his law practice as his full time job, and his MLA role as a job he held, before he resigned.