You can’t expect quality candidates if there isn’t enough money to compensate them.

Let’s get the first things straight: average joe citizen isn’t the typical person throwing their hat into the ring.

In order to get elected they would need to likely self fund their campaign and that is very very expensive. Impossible if they are already a working joe making the $40,000 you mentioned.

I personally looked into the possibility of going into local politics. The comp plan is based on them being part time. There is no chance that this is a part time job. It’s probably time and a quarter (50-60 hours), each and every week. Because there are more people with problems than solutions.

I live in downtown Victoria. I live in a nice place. The pay would JUST cover my rent after tax. It’s not enough for me to even live on.

Then there’s the toll of public life on personal life. Families are definitely affected.

Furthermore, I spent a lot of time and money on my education. I have an MBA, undergrad degree and a graduate diploma in management.

There is no way my time is worth $40-45k a year. To be totally honest, if you want the best and brightest they should be paid closer to $125k minimum with 50k of performance based bonuses for reaching certain targets in performance.

$40-45k would be the equivalent of working two months full time as a management consultant and then taking the entire rest of the year off.