EDITORIAL: Vergessen Sie die Renten der Abgeordneten; Lasst uns jetzt abstimmen

In Brief:

* Last week, MPs debated Bill C-65 in committee, in what Conservatives have dubbed “the pension protection bill.” Moving forward the date of the election ensures that 22 Liberal and six NDP MPs, whose pensions vest after the Oct. 20 date, get their full pensions.
* Members of Parliament qualify for full pensions after six years of service. Those elected in 2019 will only qualify for full pensions a few days after the Oct. 20 date.
* Here’s a better plan: The government of Justin Trudeau has run out of gas. Trudeau has only a wobbly minority government. In the last election, Conservatives got more votes than the Liberals. It’s time to give a strong mandate to a new leader. It’s time for a general election.

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The government is pushing an amendment that would allow 80 MPs to qualify for pensions whether or not they lose their seat in the next election: [https://www.queensjournal.ca/federal-liberals-introduce-controversial-elections-act-amendments/](https://www.queensjournal.ca/federal-liberals-introduce-controversial-elections-act-amendments/)

>Most contentious in the amendment is that **this change would qualify 80 MPs for pensions, regardless of whether they win or lose their seats**. These MPs would qualify for their pensions on October 21, 2025, while the original election date is set for October 20, 2025. MPs qualify for pensions after serving for six years in office.

>If this moving back of election day were to take place, MPs who lose their seat wouldn’t have to worry as they’d still be locked in for their pensions…

The decision to move the election 1 week later, rather than earlier, could cost Canadians up to $120 million, the total pension amount for all 80 MPs. Being an MP isn’t a poor-paying job by any means—MPs already earn base salaries of $194,600, which is set to rise to $203,100 on April 1.

**Could a liberal supporter explain why the election cannot happen one week earlier**? Especially if the reason isn’t to give a bunch of pensions to people who are very likely to lose their seat in the next election, then what’s the reason?

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A government that manipulated its way barely back into power in 2021, violated every historical norm by creating a de facto coalition with the weak-kneed NDP, and clung to power for years after they lost anything approaching a popular mandate.

That has spent the last three years spending record amounts of borrowed money, pushing divisive social issues, importing an absurd and unsustainable number of immigrants for no clearly articulable reason which has noticeably degraded our standard of living in every way, and now takes up all the time in Parliament covering up multiple ongoing corruption scandals.

Led by a man who is now approximately as unpopular in Canada as Donald Trump is (seriously, there was a poll the other week) who personally clings to power despite even most of his own party members wanting him gone.

Who now make it a priority to manipulate the election date so their MP’s get set for life in retirement despite knowing they will be wiped out in any coming election for all of the above reasons.

I kind of feel like I am going crazy all the time when I think about any of this.

Give em CPP like the rest of us and see how they get by.

32 conservatives would benefit …
22 liberals.

So it’s not liberal corruption.

There should be a separate referendum line where Canadians decide whether these people get their pensions after trying to delay an election the majority of Canadians want/need. They are going against the will of the people and think they somehow deserve a pension still. Delusional.

I think this is a pretty dumb argument. These people still served Canada for six years, why shouldn’t they deserve their pensions? Imagine if you had a pension, and a day before you were eligible to get benefits from it, your company fired you.