When Warren Buckley resigned as president of the B.C. Pavilion Corp. in November 2000 to become president of the Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre, he was making $150,000 - along with a $40,000 bonus. This, according to records obtained by The Province's Helen Plischke. At the time, then tourism minister Ian Waddell said that salary was "rather high - too high." So what do you think Mr. Waddell would have to say about the fact Mr. Buckley, who returned to the corporation in January 2008 as its president and chief executive officer, is now making $400,000 - 166.67 percent more then he did before. And that's not counting the $125,000 bonus he received covering the 15 months between January 2008 and March 2009.

Last year, the Campbell administration announced it would be increasing the base salaries for its top bureaucrats by an average of 7.38 percent or $14,960 to $217,758. But the government refused to release the names of which deputy ministers would be getting raises because those selections were made on the basis of job performance. Nevertheless, thanks to compensation disclosure statements for the public service's five highest-paid bureaucrats, we now know finance deputy minister Chris Trumpy's salary increased by 7.83 percent or $16,964.08 to $233,698.78. Deputy attorney general saw his salary increase by 5.97 percent or $13,199.88 to $234,405.48. And health deputy minister Gord Macatee's salary increased by 3.69 percent or $8,159 to $221,205.60. The salaries for Jessica McDonald, the premier's deputy minister, and Martyn Brown, the premier's chief of staff, didn't increase. Messers. Trumpy and Macatee have since retired from the civil service.

Earlier, we reported Jeff Fox had resigned as president of the provincial New Democrats to avoid a possible perceived conflict of interest. So who has replaced him? Well, that would be party vice-president Sav Dhaliwal. Mr. Dhaliwal was elected to serve out the remainder of Mr. Fox's term. But, in an interview with Public Eye, the Burnaby councillor said he doesn't intend to run for that post at the party's upcoming convention, which is scheduled to take place between November 27 to 29 at The Westin Bayshore in Vancouver.

British Columbia's ministry of children and family development is moving to tighten rules on how it hires consultants, following inquiries about a child rights adviser who was appointed without using competitive process. In the late summer of 2006, the ministry hand picked Brent Parfitt, a child rights adviser known to its deputy minister, using a secondment agreement. Unlike most secondees drafted from their employers, the ministry arranged for Mr. Parfitt to bill like a contractor, paying him $275 an hour, a rate that over a full work year would have earned him more than the highest paid bureaucrat in the public service.

Provincial New Democrat president Jeff Fox has resigned. The reason: earlier, we reported Mr. Fox had married party secretary Laura Nichols. As a result, in an email sent to constituency association presidents, council delegates and provincial executives, Mr. Fox notified them he would be stepping down "to avoid any perception of conflict that may arise." The following is a complete copy of that email.