I hope someone at the PC Convention raises this, but it would be nice to see the Conservative Party take the lead on the disgusting pensions that MP's are "entitled" to. Seeing recently that Canadian taxpayers add $5 to every $1 of contributions from the MP is sickening. Why should taxpayers fund lavish pensions for the political elite? Is there a purposeful intent to establish an aristocracy or something?
Mr. Harper, take the lead and cut the pensions. Most taxpayers have to save for their own retirement, if that's even possible any more.
Mr. Harper, take the lead and cut the pensions. Most taxpayers have to save for their own retirement, if that's even possible any more.
1 comments:
I guess I look at this a little differently, as I happen to be one of those (in the minority it seems) who feel our MPs are actually underpaid.
So maybe the pension is very rich, but I think the base salary is quite low for the position of Member of Parliament. So what if the excess pension cost was rolled back but made part of base salary for an MP? Would a more 'normal' pension and a $200K salary look better than a gold-plated pension and a $155K salary?
It's beyond me how we can attract truly qualified people to the job for what we pay them, and I would argue that perhaps we don't have the truly qualified people we really need.
Personally, I would never take a big pay cut from my current private sector career in business to be an MP. The MP's job is thankless, you're contantly attacked in the media no matter what you do, and the job security sucks. Sign me up? No thanks!
Under current conditions, MP candidates are limited to those people who are already so wealthy that they don't really care about pay at all, a few who honestly do it because they have a strong desire public service and are willing to sacrifice a lot to do it, or those people who are just plain underqualified for the job (which I think, sadly, is many MPs, particularly the new ones in Quebec) and think that $200K is some really amazing salary. Yes, it's well above the average pay for a Canadian, but for a comparable position in the private sector, it's a little below the market rate.
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