More voices are speaking out against the “platinum-plated pensions” provided to Canada’s members of parliament.
The latest voice in the chorus is the Green Party of Canada, which issued a statement last week lobbying for reform. “A review of MP pensions, in order to bring them more into line with norms for other Canadians, is the fair thing to do,” said Green Leader Elizabeth May.
“Originally, there was a need to balance the economic uncertainty of being an MP and to ensure good candidates,” explained the party’s national revenue and ecological fiscal reform critic, Erich Jacoby Hawkins. “However, with the salary plus benefits, and since an MP is in a position to make maximum RRSP contributions, there is no longer any justification for an MP to have a special pension plan that is richer than one any other employee with similar income would have. We should also examine pushing back the eligibility for receiving benefits to age 65, thus reducing the potential for double-dipping.”
The increased scrutiny comes after two different reports criticizing MPs’ generous pensions were released last week. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation released a report saying that Canadian MPs are beneficiaries of the best-funded plan in the world—and that taxpayers are footing most of the bill. The following day, the C.D. Howe Institute released a report arguing that the pension plan for MPs is underfunded by up to $1 billion.
“There’s no way the prime minister and these MPs can do what they need to do to balance the budget and control spending if they’ve got their own snouts in the pension trough,” said Gregory Thomas, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “They need to lead by example. They need to put Canada ahead of their own personal bank balance.”
Earlier this month, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said that public sector pension plans could be up for cuts as the federal government assesses reductions to some departmental budgets by 10% or more. However, he did not specify whether MP pensions were also under the microscope. Meanwhile, Treasury Board President Tony Clement is now eyeing MP pension plans as part of his strategic review. “I think you’ve got to be fair to the employee [the MP], but you also have to be fair to the taxpayer,” he told CTV News.