SomaliNet Forums

In my neck of the world, Northern Europe, the position of an elected official ( e.g. Mps, councillors ) is not viewed as an achievement. On the contrary, it is believed that people who aspire for a political office, lack the attributes to earn fame and cash. Their power is limited. Most of the politicians (councillors in particular) in Scandinavia are known as “ leisure time” politicians meaning that they have a full paying job elsewehere. They receive remuneration for attending meetings.

I was reading Hiiranonline the other day. I saw somalis celebrating because a somali was elected as a ward representative. Another was campaigning in a Canadian city as a councillor and it was big news.

Sideey wax u jiraan? Is it the usual Somali iyo jago jecel?

By the way, we have a somali, a young man, in the Swedish parliament following last month’s election. We had three in the last parliament; all of them representing the conservative party.

In America, it's all about representation and when you have a councilor in city hall it means that your complaints as a community will at least be addressed. No white men will care that much for you, we've figured that out. This is just a start bc we intend to capture the governorship of the state of MN. We intend to send a senator or House Rep to capital hill. It's about power and prestige for the community.

Our positions are full time and have a lot of influence and power.

JaalleMarx wrote: Most of the politicians (councillors in particular) in Scandinavia are known as “ leisure time” politicians meaning that they have a full paying job elsewehere.

I didn't realise there was any country in the world that followed this model. It is so sensible.

Jasmine6 wrote:

JaalleMarx wrote: Most of the politicians (councillors in particular) in Scandinavia are known as “ leisure time” politicians meaning that they have a full paying job elsewehere.

I didn't realise there was any country in the world that followed this model. It is so sensible.

As far as councillors are concerned, that's exactly the system we have here in the UK. Councillors usually have full time jobs (unless they are retirees) and are given an allowance + certain expenses. Being a councillor is not a full time job.

Field Marshall,
I see. No taxation without representation. We don't have much to complain about here. It is the civil servants who are involved in the day-to-day activities of state and council. In fact, politicians are by law not allowed to influence the direct running of the state/local councils other than by creating laws and bylaws. For instance, an MP cannot write to a government agency/official and influence decisions.

PO; everything in the USA is entrepreneurial.

Jasmine and Octavious; we have a proportianal representation system; we vote for parties (who have a list of people, you can select from a list of candidates but that is rare). The parties usually use "positive discrimination"/affirmative action to include immigrants, women and others.

Being an MP is not that important. Our MPs ( Nordic countries) are not that paid.

JaalleMarx,

I found an article that details the salaries of city councillors in my neck of the woods (the ones bolded are the cities with large Somali communities)

Councillor compensation review of 11 comparable regions:

City of Mississauga: $133,078

City of Markham: $122,908

City of Montreal: $121,200

City of Edmonton: $116,851

City of Calgary: $111,066

City of Oshawa: $110,533

City of Vancouver: $109,944

City of Toronto: $105,397

City of Hamilton: $94,605

City of Ottawa: $93,986

Town of Oakville: $93,234

Halifax: $78,777

Source

Municipal elections are coming up this month in many cities including mine, and there are a few Somalis running (2 in my city, I think 3 in Toronto). It's a full time job as many others have mentioned and it does come with a lot of responsibilities, such as building/maintaining infrastructure, and representing their constituents when it comes to city-wide decision making. Many city councillors do go on to provincial parliament and some may even become a federal MP

Methylamine,
WAAW! Mississauga? isn't that a surburb in Toronto? I have been there and I have not seen a city Hamilton is also a small town. I drove through it on my way to Detroit. Tiny but old town by European standards

That is too much money. Now, I understand why politics is big.

In the Nordic countries, on average, MPS make 80-90 000 Canadian dollars ; that makes them fall into the upper bracket for taxation, so they take home 60-70 000/year.

Councillors ( except for one or two who are full time) make on average 20 dollars/sitting. There are mostly 10-15 sittings/year. The full timers ( they are not call mayors) make 40-50 000 dollars/year.

Mississauga definitely does not seem like a city, but since it has such a large population (~700k), it's been given city status. The structure and organization of cities and towns in Canada isn't consistent as it is in the United States, where it has three defined levels of government (city, county, state). Here, some cities have boundaries that encompass all of the surrounding urban areas and rural areas (Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton), while some cities have suburbs that run their own government (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver).

I just Googled it, and the base salary for a federal MP is $163k/year, while provincial MPs make $116k/year

I think the Nordic model of giving low pay for political positions is actually better since politicians who choose to pursue office wouldn't be motivated by personal interests and would actually do work for the sake of the community they're in. You'd be surprised to see how politicians who sometimes appear very anti-immigrant reach out to those same immigrants they're bashing during election time. It's common sight to see a person who's up for reelection at Somali functions say something along the lines of "The government of Canada is a strong ally and a friend of <insert Somali government here>" in order to get the Somali vote lol.

In America, people distrust politicians because they are so corrupted and speak from both sides of their mouth. Promising one thing, and then doing the complete opposite.

No honest man goes into Siyaasad, because they wouldn't last long.

Somalis that get into politics are motivated by Lacag Jaceel and Kursi/Jago love.

They are not doing it because they want to help Somalis.

I don't trust 'em.

In London the basic allowance for a Councillor is £10,703 (assuming they hold no additional responsibilities), which is a relatively small sum of money considering the responsibilities that councillors hold. Comparatively, Members of Parliament currently receive a salary of £66,396. Interestingly enough:

Whereas a Member of Parliament represented an electorate of 70,000 people, a councillors are responsible for the delivery of a wide range of services to a population of 300,000 – an electorate of 220,000 across an area three times as large as a parliamentary constituency. Each London Borough is responsible for services crucial to its residents. Each is responsible for a revenue budget of between £1.3bn and £3.3bn.

Politics is very dirty in DC. House of Cards is an accurate description of it. This Indian girl I know was staffing for a Congresswoman a couple years ago and she had to meet a small business constituent at a hotel. They looked for conference space but there was none available. So the dude turns to her and gives her his hotel key and says "I'll see you on the 5th (floor)" i.e. his room

So basically she left the hotel, went back to Capitol Hill, and this lady at the office basically in a coded way (since they believe the place is bugged) asked "did the meeting go well? did you get something done?" i.e. did you sleep with the guy to convince him to support this initiative

If you become a Congressman/woman, you're in elite company especially if you win a couple elections.

In the US Senate, you have six year terms and there's two for every state.. which is even more exclusive.

The salaries are like $170-180k

Representatives on Capitol Hill don't work full time. Especially every two years during election season. For example, US Congress just got off a 5 week recess in August. They worked for a week and half in September and now are on another 8 week recess for campaigning. Then in November, the lame duck Congress will be in session for a couple weeks and then the Holiday season starts.

City Councils vary. For regular old cities that are in states and in counties, they won't be that high. But in big cities, they are higher.

Los Angeles pays full-time council members $178,789 annually followed by Washington, DC paying part-time council members $130,538 annually.