Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised to look at pension reforms for members of Parliament this fall, after he consults with MPs. That is good news — all Canadians need to tighten their belts to prepare for an uncertain economic future.
Interestingly, however, the rest of us Canadians missed out on such a consultation over reforming Old Age Security, which will see the age at which one can collect an OAS pension gradually move from 65 to 67.
We all know that Canadian MPs have solid gold salaries, perks and benefits, followed by solid gold pensions, paid for almost entirely by Canadian taxpayers.
But according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, for every dollar a member of Parliament contributes to his or her pension, we — the taxpayers — throw in over $23.
With only six years of public service, an MP can start drawing on a full pension at age 55. Not bad for a part-time job. Compare that with the typical hard-working Canadian with a real job and true accountability.
We can no longer afford to pay these obscene amounts to our MPs, and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation is pushing for a 50-50 shared cost deal as part of the government’s MP pension reform.
A petition drive is now underway to urge the prime minister to do the right thing. Please visit http://taxpayer.com/issues/federal/fed-reform-mp-pensions to sign the petition if you agree that it’s time for the government to overhaul MP pensions to bring them in line with reality.
Paul McCavour and Julie Turner
Osoyoos
