Source: From a Canada Press article by Heather Scoffield [http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100221/national/mps_pensions]
Jacob Marley and his fellow ghosts may have quite a bit of work cut out for them come Christmas time. Recent figures released by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation show that several MP’s are set to have a very nice retirement provided to them via a government funded pension plan. How much? According to calculations, these MP’s are set to earn over $100,000 a year.
The MP’s in question are former Reform Party members who notably took aim at such “cadillac” pension plans in the mid-90′s. Back then, they claimed that gutting such plans would be necessary to target the deficit. Since that time, the 11 members still serving in parliament have opted back in to the plan. Anyone noteworthy?
The fair and honorable Prime Minister Stephen Harper, should he retire soon, is set to earn just over $150,000 per year. Regular canadians should be so lucky.
According to 2009 figures, the maximum monthly benefit Canadians are entitled to receive from the Canada Pension Plan is just over $900 (1). That works out to under $11,000 over the course of a year.
Canadians who depend on CPP obviously are not going to have much to live off of. What about RRSP’s and other retirement investment plans? Given the current state of the economy, what was once thought of as a “sure-thing” has proven to be anything but. The same goes for privately funded pension plans.
When Canadian telecommunications giant Nortel filed for bankruptcy, it left many former and current employees wondering what would become of their retirement dreams. Once again, with the current economic climate, and companies dropping like flies, employer-funded pensions aren’t a sure thing either.
What is really at issue here is not just the risks that one takes in retirement planning, though. Given Harper’s once-strong feelings on a pension plan that he himself labelled as a “monstrosity”, why the sudden change of heart?
It’s a sickening display of contempt for the very constituents he claims to stand for. With the federal deficit climbing, for these MP’s to discretely opt back in to a plan that they themselves thought to be out-of-sorts is unfathomable. What happened to the notion of cutting out these benefits to help the Canadian people?
It gets even worse when one considers the situation brewing between the Treasury department and Canada’s federal public-service employee’s. Fears are rising that the March 4th budget will target these employees pension plans with massive cuts aimed at balancing the budget in a small amount of time (2).
Hopefully, the place to start will prove to be the overly generous pension plans afforded to MP’s. Although it can not be denied that everyone is entitled to retirement benefits, should those benefits really extend into the stratosphere? Harper and the other 11 MP’s who were against this benefit plan to begin with are going to have a long road ahead of them. With faith in the Conservative government waning, and questions on Harper’s sincerity in his campaign promises, maybe it’s time that Dicken’s infamous ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future pay a visit to our political representatives.
Additional Sources:
1) http://www.professionalreferrals.ca/2009/02/a-simple-guide-to-canadian-pension-plan-and-old-age-security/
2) http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Spending+cuts+says/2579986/story.html
