A Conservative MP says he is asking the House of Commons to freeze his salary before parliamentarians get their annual pay bump in April.
New Brunswick MP Mike Dawson posted a letter on Facebook where he asks the clerk of the House to “make the necessary arrangements with the payroll and benefits administration” to ensure that his salary doesn’t increase.
“At a time when everyday Canadians are struggling to keep up with rising cost of living I cannot in good conscience accept the pay increase,” Dawson wrote in his letter.
Employment and Social Development Canada has yet to publish the final indexed rate for 2025, but Dawson indicated in his letter that he anticipates it would be roughly around $10,000.
Based on the annual pay increase schedule, backbench MPs started making a yearly salary of more than $200,000 in 2024.
Salaries for special offices — like ministers, parliamentary secretaries, the Speaker and the prime minister — are higher. Prime ministers make more than $400,000 a year, while ministers and the leader of the Official Opposition are paid roughly $300,000.
It’s definitely a bad look for politicians to be paid super high salaries, but it’s actually a good way to curb corruption. Because financial struggles are a major motivation for turning to bribes. If you look at high corruption countries such as Mexico, you’ll see that they pay their public servants so little that they basically have to accept bribes to make ends meet. But thats not the case here, because we pay our public servants high salaries.
Exactly my thoughts. The fact that he is doing this just suggests to me he’s getting paid better by lobbyists and basically keeps his money hidden in the Caymans.
I want our public servants paid well enough that they avoid corruption. How well does it work? Better than Mexico, but I’m not sure if it’s better than the US.
We need more ways to strengthen our democracy by holding our politicians accountable.