Ontario’s integrity commissioner says members of provincial parliament should receive a pension and salary similar to their counterparts in Ottawa.
“Salary levels and pension arrangements should be fair to members not just because members deserve it but also because it is in the public interest that that be so,” Coulter Osborne says in a report.
Pensions became an election issue in 1995 and they were slashed when Mike Harris became premier.
“The immediate effect of the change from the former defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan reduced the annual pension related cost per member from about $45,000 to about $3,900 each year,” he says.
Osborne believes if compensation at one level of government, such as the House of Commons, is substantially better than compensation in place provincially, there will inevitably be a movement from Toronto to Ottawa.
“Over time the provincial legislature runs the risk of being seen as a farm team for the House of Commons,” he says.
Ontario MPPs earn $88,711 annually while members of Parliament make $147,700 a year.
However, Queen’s Park will probably not revisit the compensation issue before next year’s October election.
To view the report, click here.
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