Staffer severance payments reach $1.7M after Manitoba government changes hands
BNN Bloomberg
Severance payments to political staff following last year's Manitoba election have reached about $1.7 million, government figures show — and that does not include an undisclosed payout to the former chief executive officer of Manitoba Hydro.
Large-scale staff turnover is a regular occurrence after elections lead to a government changing hands. The Manitoba election on Oct. 3, which saw the NDP end seven years of Progressive Conservative rule, was no exception.
Unlike civil servants, political staff — ministerial chiefs of staff, policy advisers, cabinet press secretaries and more — are expected to be politically aligned with the party in power. Their employment comes and goes with changes in government.
"Political jobs are a form of 'vulnerable employment' because there is a wholesale exodus of individuals serving the premier, cabinet and individual ministers when governments change," said Paul Thomas, professor emeritus of political studies at the University of Manitoba.
