Article content continued

Brad Klak, the president and managing director, was being paid $610,700, plus $121,371 in other compensation, for a total of $732,000.

A quasi-public body like this one can run wild because the Progressive Conservatives allowed boards they appointed to set the pay rates for executives.

There were no limits or even guidelines. These bodies weren’t even required to disclose their detailed financials to the government.

Asked how the NDP had any idea what they were up to, one official said the government had to hunt for annual reports, “just like you.”

The NDP’s first pass at the problem showed that 27 of these bodies paid the executives more than $200,000 a year, and often much more.

These 27 were placed in a special category, “designated agency.” Designated, as in “target.” From the AFSC to the Alberta Energy Regulator and Alberta Electrical System Operator, the pay will be going down.

Finance Minister Joe Ceci said Friday that all 27 will fall within that public service pay range. More important outfits will be at the top, others father down, but there will be a cap.

The transitions will take two years, but eventually some of these jobs will pay hundreds of thousands less per year.

The AFSC appears to be an extreme and unique case. This outfit organizes farm insurance with large companies and makes business loans to farmers.

That’s an important role, but not nearly as vital to Alberta as the energy regulator, whose CEO, Jim Ellis, makes a grand total of $721,000, $11,000 less than Brad Klak.