I found an interesting article on canada.com just now, it talks about the severance that retiring/defeated MPs get.
There are 4 MPs who are going to receive pensions in the $3 million+ range, the highest being over $3.7 million (it works out to over $137K a year). The smallest will receive $40K a year.
Now if you're an MP who's been working in Ottawa for 30 years and is retiring at 65 then I have no problem with reasonable compensation. But take the $40K a year case. The guy was first elected in 1997, and now with less than 10 years experience he's going to get a $40K a year pension before he turns 55. Now I know that's not a ridiculous sum, but show me another job where I can go there, work for 9 years, and collect a $40K annual pension for the rest of my life.
Of course, maybe I'm just bitter that it's not me.
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Being an MP would be absolutely petrifying. You quit your career to go and serve the public, with no guarantees you'll have a job in 18 months. We want the best and the brightest to be our elected officials, rather than some sketchy skids, and they're normally leaving lucrative careers, shutting law practices, or generally giving up a whole lot to be a public official. Most of them even take pay cuts as MPs, or even as prime minister, which really doesn't pay all that well.
You have to offer them some security that if they do try to make a career out of being an elected public service, that some of the risk will be taken out if they are eventually defeated. Seriously, who would take the job knowing "Well, here's a job, could only last for 18 months, and we know you're leaving a 150-200k a year career and taking a pay cut, and if you don't win the next election when the government falls you've given up your career, and we give you NOTHING.. sorry, should have gotten more votes!"
We'd have even sketchier people running our country.
Hmm, I guess I never looked at it that way. You make a very good argument.
I think my problem was that I was comparing it to a normal job, which it isn't. I have a lot of respect for someone willing to take that risk, it can't be an easy decision.
I guess there are worse ways to spend our tax dollars, huh?
Although I do think we need a broader range of professions representing us. I think it'd be great to see nurses, doctors, teachers, city workers, etc. have spots in Parliament. It'd give a fresh voice. I thought it was great that an Independent got elected. Now granted he only won because he was a popular radio personality, but having that fresh look of someone who's not a career politician is something that's sorely lacking.
I can't agree more that we should have a vaster array of people running our country... but my theory is that those people just aren't interested. The type of people who are interested in politics go into political science, and then they end up in relatively few careers... politics isn't a job that everyone is interested in, and being that the salary is pretty crummy, with the base salary being in the $66,000 range... This being a new MP with no added responsibility (ie not a cabinet minister etc).
Add to that that to be an MP you have to be away from your family for most of the year, unless you're an Ottawa MP...
Contrast that with another story in the news, Ford. The average starting salary of a Ford Line worker in Canada is $73,200, with overtime ($55,000 without overtime). You get to go home after work, you don't have to take a plane home on weekends to see your family, you get holidays, lunch breaks, and don't have to take your work home with you.
And as for our tax dollars, I'm assuming that MPs pay into their pensions, just like we all pay into CPP... and it gets invested and the money comes from there... so I don't think you have to worry about your tax dollars either way, although it is nicer knowing its going to an ousted MP than to some new scandal I guess.
Ah I just read that article, and apparently they get paid a little better now than they did a few years ago (130k instead, which is a pretty respectable salary, although I expect most of them still take a pay cut from where they're coming from)
So I guess they do a shitty job, with a lot of downsides, but at least they get paid decently for it. Better salaries sure can't hurt at attracting more diverse and qualified people.
Yeah, attracting the diversity of people is really a problem. I'm one of the few people I know who does have a real interest in politics, and you're right, most people simply don't care...and you can hardly blame them. Although voter turnout was up almost 10%, so that's a positive.
I guess I'm going to have to take the burden onto my shoulders...I'm founding a new party based on my field, the GIS and Ontology Nationally Allied Democrats.
So remember, in 2008, vote GONAD!
Ah ha ha. The gonad party, I love it. The slogans would write themselves.
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