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Canadian MPs will now make over $200,000 per year, thanks to a pay bump that goes into effect Monday.
Additional salaries for special offices like ministers, parliamentary secretaries, the Speaker and the prime minister will also go up. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s salary will now top $400,000 per year, as a result of the increase.
Parliamentarians of all stripes will receive a salary bump because of the annual increases written in to the legislation governing politicians’ pay. The precise number of the increase each year comes from tracking an index of increases from settlements in the private sector, according to the House of Commons.
For this year’s bump, that figure works out to 4.4 per cent, meaning the standard salary for a backbench MP will increase by $8,500.
Trudeau will now earn $406,200, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre will take in $299,900 and cabinet ministers will also be paid just under $300,000.
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Those who hold special offices, such as federal party leaders, parliamentary secretaries, house leaders and whips, will also receive pay boosts.
Salaries will also go up $8,500 for senators, increasing to $178,100.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation, an advocacy group dedicated to lowering taxes and scrutinizing government spending, has already criticized the increase.
“MPs are taking more money out of Canadians’ pockets and stuffing more money into their own and that’s wrong,” Terrazzano said in a release. “MPs should be providing tax relief, not hiking taxes and their own pay.”
The federal government is set to release a budget on April 16.
Source: cbc
