Members of Parliament and senators will
get a $3,000 increase Friday in their base
salary, while cabinet ministers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
will receive a larger raise – at a time when Canadians
are struggling with stagnant wages and rising unemployment.
The wage hike of 1.8 per cent for MPs and 2.1 per cent for
senators is about four times what the federal government has
offered public sector unions and executives in the federal public
service.................
Federal legislation automatically gives MPs an annual pay hike on
April 1 that’s equal to the average percentage increase negotiated
by unions with 500 or more employees in the private sector. The data
are published by Employment and Social Development Canada.
The pay hike for MPs is nearly double the average increase of one
per cent that public sector unions negotiated in jurisdictions across
Canada in 2015.
MPs have the option of freezing their own salaries through federal
legislation, but the government has decided not to do so. Salaries
for MPs were frozen at 2009-10 levels until the end of the 2012-13
fiscal year under legislation introduced and passed by the former
Conservative government...............
Since the MP wage freeze was lifted in 2013, the base salary of
members of Parliament has increased eight per cent, from
$157,731.
Taxpayers will cough up an extra $25.4 million for an increase of
20 per cent to office budgets for MPs and House of Commons officers
that also takes effect Friday.
“I don’t think most Canadians have much sympathy for the
notion that MPs need a pay hike, considering they already earn far
more than the average Canadian.” said Aaron Wudrick, federal
director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
And he would be right about that, why is it that their
compensation is based upon average PRIVATE sector UNION wages when by
far the greatest number of taxpayers are paid far less than union
rates and rarely if ever see raises of any amount. Next thing you
know they will want to be paid for two weeks of sick days just like
or poor hard done by teachers .....oh wait, they get paid whether
they show up or not don’t they Mr Harper?
Support Democracy - Recommend this Post at Progressive Bloggers
A blog to give a voice to our concern about the continued erosion of our democratic processes not only within the House of Commons and within our electoral system but also throughout our society. Here you will find articles about the current problems within our parliamentary democracy, about actions both good and bad by our elected representatives, about possible solutions, opinions and debate about the state of democracy in Canada, and about our roles/responsibilities as democratic citizens. We invite your thoughtful and polite comments upon our posts and ask those who wish to post longer articles or share ideas on this subject to submit them for inclusion as a guest post.
Contact us at democracyunderfire@gmail.com
Contact us at democracyunderfire@gmail.com
Sunday, April 3, 2016
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