Article content continued

That would have amounted to just over half her annual salary of $127,296, or about $67,000.

“I checked with the Speaker’s office, it has no information regarding her performing her duties as an MLA but have received no indication she wasn’t,” Oates said in an email on Tuesday.

Absence reports, she said, could be viewed in the office of the Speaker, though the ones dealing with the fall sitting are still a few weeks from completion.

MLAs who miss more than 10 days of a legislature sitting are docked $100 daily unless they’re excused for reasons of health or bereavement, or if they’ve been performing official public duties.

McLean, said Oates, had “submitted her notification of leave from the assembly to the Speaker prior to the fall sitting and therefore her pay was not docked.”

The MLA met one of the three criteria, but “the reason (for a particular leave) is not made public,” added Oates.

She also said McLean wasn’t paid at the ministers’ rate because she was no longer in cabinet, and wouldn’t have received any severance because she resigned.

A pay level wouldn’t affect her pension because “MLAs no longer receive pensions with the exception of those long-serving members whose pensions were grandfathered in,” added Oates.

In 2017-18, McLean was paid $220,957, of which $127,296 was MLA pay and another $63,648 was an additional allowance for being a cabinet minister.

When McLean announced she wouldn’t be running for re-election, the Calgarian said she’d remain active.