News: MPs who are leaving politics get a soft landing, padded with our dollars
July 9th : The Vancouver Sun, Barbara Yaffe
There's no genteel way of putting it: Taxpayers are being taken to the cleaners by defeated and retired MPs eligible for millions in severance payouts and pensions.
As for elected MPs, as of April 1 they've been receiving jumbo salaries of $141,000, all of it taxable. This is up from $90,000, $22,000 of which was tax-free, just four years ago.
These payouts are getting out of hand, and it's time taxpayers sat up and took notice. If there's one thing parliamentarians have shown they're good at, it's taking care of themselves.
No one argues that MPs deserve reasonable severance and pensions. Politicians' job security is next to nil.
It's only fair to give defeated MPs a financial bridge to their next pursuit. In the same vein, long-serving MPs deserve decent retirement pensions.
But "reasonable" and "decent" aren't what comes to mind when reviewing some of the payouts made in the wake of the June 28 election. More appropriate adjectives might be "avaricious" and "extravagant."
Severance is going to 51 former politicians while pensions will be paid to 50 defeated and retiring MPs.
Also, it's questionable whether those who, of their own volition, choose not to run again should receive severance. Private sector workers leaving a job get a handshake and a goodbye.
Yet, Andre Bachand, the N.B. Progressive Conservative turned Independent who resigned before the election, will get a $70,500 parliamentary send-off.
Former cabinet minister Jane Stewart, 49, who months ago lined up a high-level job with the International Labour Organization in Geneva, will receive severance of $70,500, plus a $65,200 annual pension at 55.
Do you remember the lacklustre former agriculture minister, Lyle Vanclief? He also resigned. At 61, he's cashing in on a $106,000-a-year pension.
Herb Dhaliwal, B.C. Liberal minister who resigned and will return to a lucrative airport service business, will get severance of $71,500 and will receive $65,257 in annual pension at 55.
Svend Robinson, 51, the B.C. NDP MP who stood aside last spring, citing an emotional disability, will receive an $86,600 pension at 55.
Rey Pagtakhan, a defeated Manitoba Liberal, former minister of veterans affairs then minister of western economic diversification, retires with an annual pension of $105,800.
And remember poor Sheila Copps, virtually forced out of her Hamilton-area riding by her own party? Hold the tears. Ms. Copps gets $70,500 in severance and in four years will receive a yearly pension of $120,000.
The problem with MPs' pensions, says the Taxpayers Federation, is that for every dollar the MP puts in, taxpayers fork over $4. The federation wants a dollar-for-dollar matching system.
The overly generous pension arrangement in fact is an improvement over a previous plummier system reluctantly "reformed" several years ago.
It's not just pensions and severance that have reached gluttonous levels. It's arguable we're paying MPs excessively.
The sessional indemnity for an MP -- base salary, separate from pay for other positions such as committee chair, parliamentary secretary or cabinet post -- has been growing steadily since 2000.
Back then prime minister Jean Chretien, trying to manage a large and restive Liberal backbench, took it into his head that politicians should be paid like hockey players.
Keep in mind, in addition to the sessional indemnity the MP receives additional allowances for travel to Ottawa, housing in the capital and a constituency office and staff.
Politicians took all of 10 minutes in 2000 to give themselves a raise. By 2001 they were earning $131,400, all taxable. Then $135,000, then $139,000 and now $141,000.
The sessional indemnity has been growing as a result of a system chosen by parliamentarians that ties their pay rates to judges' salaries. When judges get an increase, so do MPs. No fuss, no need for legislation mandating the raise and most importantly, no publicity.
MPs' pay has grown sufficiently to remove federal politicians from the real-world financial pressures felt by their constituents. In 2001, a scant one per cent of tax filers had incomes of $150,000-plus.
The deluxe pension plan insulates MPs entirely from the troubles average Canadians have in preparing for their retirement; and for retirees, the precariousness of RRSP investments, the value of which is influenced by interest rates tied to the country's economic performance.
The top salary is also impeding a traditionally healthy MP turnover in the Commons.
Is an ordinary backbencher worth $141,000?
That's something people will have to judge for themselves. I sure know my own answer to that question.
