Clark ‘not pointing finger’ at civic reps

NEWS/ POLITICS — The province and local governments must work together to keep a lid on costs, Premier Christy Clark told delegates to the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Whistler Friday.

In a wide-ranging speech, Clark touched on some of the history of the province, Aboriginal title, taxes, cancer treatment, rural development and resource development.

She said a contorversial Ernst & Young report shows there’s more work to do at the local level in cost containment. “Some local governments are paying more than the province for people to do similar jobs,” she said, without naming specific cities.

“And, in those cases, compensation levels are simply too high.”

The report was released a few days before the convention by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, showing that unionized municipal staff received much higher pay increases than provincial employees over the past dozen years.

“It’s not just local governments. The report also shows we need to keep working to manage compensation and spending at Crown corporations.”

She said she was “not here to point a finger,” adding it’s a healthy process that all governments need to go through. “And I understand only too well just how difficult and heated negotiation can be with public sector unions.”

Clark’s speech followed one by NDP leader John Horgan on Thursday in which he blasted the Liberals for the report on wage hikes for municipal staff. He said the report was “an insult” to municipal politicians.