WINNIPEG - The former head of Manitoba Public Insurance is returning to work temporarily for $180 an hour after receiving a six-figure retirement package, reveal documents obtained by the Opposition Progressive Conservatives.
Marilyn McLaren retired in February as president and chief executive officer of the Crown corporation and was awarded a total of $488,991 in salary, retirement allowance and vacation pay for the current year.
She has now been rehired to work at least 22 hours a month, at $180 an hour, according to the documents the Tories obtained under the province's freedom-of-information law.
McLaren is to perform a variety of tasks, including helping MPI seek a rate increase for auto insurance. The Crown corporation has a monopoly on basic auto insurance in Manitoba.
Opposition Leader Brian Pallister said Monday the optics will not sit well with the public.
"To send someone who is being paid a considerable amount of money -- on top of the money that they were paid when they were in the job, plus the severance on top of it -- is kind of adding insult to injury."
The minister responsible for MPI, Andrew Swan, said it is not unusual for corporate bosses to be hired back temporarily.
"It's almost always the rule -- whether it's a private corporation or public corporation -- when a CEO moves on, that the CEO remains available for the new management team."
There is no word yet on how much of an increase MPI will seek before the Public Utilities Board. But Swan hinted it might be substantial because the long, harsh winter had made for a lot of fender-benders.
"Everybody in Manitoba knows it's been a difficult winter. We know there have been more claims than in typical years and, unfortunately, those claims have been more expensive."
Swan would not say what the rate hike might be, but said Manitoba's auto insurance will continue to be among the lowest in Canada.
"Saskatchewan has applied for a 5.2 per cent rate increase. That would be high for Manitobans."
