How about setting an example by cutting perks of MPs? Not bloody likely!
Jim Flaherty may have lifted the lid on Pandora’s box by indicating Members of Parliament will be asked to share the pain of the recession with some symbolic concessions on the many perks and privileges they enjoy.
The finance minister proposed a salary freeze, a reduction in discretionary spending and a crackdown on travel when he delivers his economic update today. Mr. Flaherty can’t impose the cutbacks, but it would be difficult for opposition members to block them while millions of Canadians worry about losing their jobs or their homes. The sacrifices are token measures, and will let MPs feel good about themselves.
It’s a nice gesture, but it also underlines just how privileged these people have become. Mr. Flaherty should be encouraged to go further ... much further. Why just limit salary increases; why not eliminate some? Why not chop several dozen seats out of the House of Commons, and reduce representation to a more sensible level?
There are 308 members of Parliament. The base salary is $155,000 each. That’s almost $48 million a year. MPs make $20,000 a year more today than they did in 2002. The Prime Minister, cabinet members, the Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition, leaders of other parties, secretaries of state, House whips .... they all get additional top-ups, ranging from $1,500 for the deputy speaker’s rent allowance to $74,400 in extra salary for cabinet members. As reported by Don Martin, they also get up to 64 free business class flights a year, with a companion. And then there’s the ultra-fat pension plan, which ensures that anyone able to get elected more than a couple of times can cash in for life.
Why do we stand for this? Right off the top, we don’t need 308 MPs. If anything has defined government over the past 40 years its the increasing centralization of power in the Prime Minister’s Office. MPs outside the cabinet have little to do other than mind their constituencies, and vote as they’re instructed when legislation comes before the House. Opposition MPs have even less authority than those in government. At most they might get an occasional query to ask in Question Period, or a seat on a committee. You could easily lop 50-75 MPs off the House benches, spread their work among the remainder, and no one would notice.
You could also slash the pension, and take away those overly generous travel allowances. No one needs 64 flights a year, and there is no reason they need a companion on every flight. Business class? Why are they flying business class? It may be acceptable for MPs from the most distant ridings, but the vast majority can squeeze into economy (sorry ... Hospitality Class) just like the rest of us.
It’s time Parliament take a lesson from the auto industry. For decades auto unions have been able to squeeze generous contracts out of management, each new deal adding to the perks acquired in the previous package. Over time the benefits accumulated, making life steadily more comfortable for the recipients but saddling the auto companies with an increasingly unsustainable mountain of liabilities. The current crisis arises from the industry’s inability to support the burden any longer.
Government can support the burden of MP compensation only because it has an almost unlimited ability to siphon money out of the taxpayer. Ottawa won’t go broke, no matter how much it pampers itself. Mr. Flaherty has provided an opportunity to reverse the trend, however, and the government should seize the opportunity to take his proposal further. MPs should get a pension that’s no better than any mid-level, middle class employee -- which means that if they can survive 35 or 40 years in the work force they might get a fraction of their best years’ income.
Who’s going to complain if MPs have to learn to get along with much less, just like auto workers? Who’s going to care if they get mad and quit?
First, people would have to notice they were gone.
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