Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Political Greed Strikes Again


Ontario MPPs have voted to give themselves a whopping 25 per cent hike.

How generous!

And just in time for Christmas too.

Must be nice to be able vote yourself a pay hike.

And what did the MPPs do to deserve such a raise?

Are they working harder? Have they done an excellent job? Do they have more responsibilities?

No.

They were just envious of federal MPs who made more money than they did.

Envious and greedy. Nice combination.

What gets me is that all these MPPs who are crying about how they are so underpaid, are the same MPPs who not too long ago were begging us for votes.

They knew what the pay package was when they ran. If they thought the pay was too low why didn't they say something then?

And then they wonder why voters hold them in such low regard.

Media Update:

I just did an interview on this on the Jim Richards Show (CFRB Radio in Toronto)

Also I am quoted in this Canadian Press story.



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Politician's pay should be monitored and administered by a special citizen's group of 12 members randomly selected from 12 different ridings in the province, chaired by an independent consultant. Any changes to MPP salaries and expenses would come into effect only after an election. This would make it independent and democratic.

I don't buy the argument that we need to attract the best people with high salaries either. If that was true, the most recent CEO of Hydro One would be the most popular CEO in Ontario instead of another shining example of government excess and mismanagement.

Furthermore, the 75% cap on MPP salaries seems so arbitrary. Do MPPs do 75% of the work MPs do? I think not. This leads me to believe that the sudden push to review and change MPP salaries is also arbitrary.

Gerry Nicholls said...

Good idea Kirk.

Monkey Loves to Fight said...

Isn't it ironic that the only party to vote against this was the big tax and spend NDP while the two supposedly fiscally responsible parties vote for it.

Anyways I think an easier solution is to fix politicians salaries to the rate of inflation and every year they would rise by the rate of inflation

Anonymous said...

miles,

Does your salary automatically rise with inflation? Mine certainly doesn't. It can be higher or lower depending on how well the economy is doing. You're just another dumb Liberal with a dumb liberal idea.

I say we fix MPs salaries to real GDP. It should rise 2% when we have 4% real GDP growth, 1% when we get 2% real GDP growth, etc. If there is a recession, MPs should also have their salaries cut like the rest of us...

One problem is debt, so I think MPs salaries should be cut as well for running deficits (just like the balanced budget law did to Premiers before Dalton McSquinty scrapped it).

That way, politicians will promote policies for sustainable economic growth.

Kirk's idea is good too.