NDP Vows To Delay $22,000 Raise For Ont. Politicians

Posted December 19, 2006 12:00 pm.

This article is more than 5 years old.

Sure it’s the Christmas season and you’re probably looking to get away from the office for the holidays.

But would you be willing to stay an extra week if it meant getting a big raise when you get back?

MPPs would.

They’ve extended the Legislature session in order to try and ram through a highly controversial motion that will see their yearly salaries skyrocket by an astonishing $22,000.

Both the Liberals and the Conservatives support the idea, noting it came from a report that suggested Ontario politicians were falling behind their federal counterparts in remuneration and likely losing out on good candidates because of it.

But this Christmas present won’t be a free ride. The N.D.P. has vowed to do everything it can to hold up the pay boost, even if it means keeping it from passing until the last possible minute.

Its members continue to be outraged by what they feel is an excessive boost, when so many other residents are struggling just to make ends meet.

Niagara’s Peter Kormos is leading the New Democrats’ charge. “It’s insulting that folks here at Queen’s Park talk about how difficult it is to make ends meet on $100 grand a year,” he fumes. “There’s families doing a good job at a fraction.”

MPPs currently earn just over $86,000 a year. The addition to the pay packets would swell that to $110,000 and make them the highest paid provincial politicians in the country. Those working for the feds in Ottawa pull in $147,000 annually, and more if they’re in cabinet.

Premier Dalton McGuinty accuses the N.D.P. of making a stance for votes, arguing his people deserve the extra bucks and calling the protest a ‘show’.

“They’re telling us they’re hurt but they are going to take the money. They’re indignant but they’re going to take the money. They’re telling us they were surprised by all of that but they’re going to take the money. So I would invite Ontarians to grab some popcorn and observe the performance of the N.D.P because it is without precedent in the annals of parliamentary tradition.”

But Kormos remains adamant his people will donate their share to charity and that they won’t give up without a fight. “We are going to speak on behalf of the vast majority of Ontarians who find this proposition inappropriate, repugnant, and insulting.”

Taxpayers will foot the bill for the raise, which will amount to $3 million for all 103 MPPs, but McGuinty claims those who know the facts aren’t bothered by it, pointing out MPPs have had their paycheques frozen nine times over the last 15 years and in one case, cut by more than five percent.

Many taxpayers aren’t bothered so much by the raise as by the amount, arguing the vast majority of workers are lucky to get the cost of inflation when they see any pay hikes at all – let alone a $22,000 raise.

And they’re convinced that cash could be better spent elsewhere.

“I think they should invest that money into social services instead of a raise,” complains Tyrene Jackman.

“We have a nursing shortage anyway so it would benefit the health care system,” suggests Alexander Stadler about the revelation $3 million would pay for 50 more people in the profession.

Despite the stalling tactics, it seems almost certain the motion will pass by Thursday.

What else can you buy for $3 million? Here’s a look:

A new school

An MRI machine

50 nurses

A mile of the proposed security fence along the U.S.-Mexican border.

A light jet that carries up to 6 people

An original painting by an Old Master

A mansion in Oakville

A luxury condo on the Cayman Islands

Moises Alou’s 1995 one year contract extension with the Montreal Expos

The domain name ‘vodka.com’, which sold for that amount last week.

A new high tech radar device for NASA

A block of the famous rare upside down 24-cent airmail stamps from 1918.

A 1954 Oldsmobile concept car called the F-88, which recently sold at auction for that price.

One million Lotto 6/49 tickets (with Encore).

Just under three years of former Hydro One C.E.O Tom Parkinson’s services (at $1.5 million a year) or his expected severance pay.

The change will make Ontario MPPs the highest paid provincial politicians in the country. How much do their counterparts earn? We published the list last week, but it’s worth another look. Here are the numbers as of June 2006, including salaries and tax free allowances.

British Columbia: $76,100

Alberta: $82,406

Saskatchewan: $73,173

Manitoba: $73,512

Ontario: $86,860

Quebec: $105,231

New Brunswick: $79,779

Nova Scotia: $65,556

Prince Edward Island: $56,849

Newfoundland and Labrador: $87,630

Yukon: $65,556

Nunavut: $68,953