(Quebec) The Legault administration is pushing for a $30,000-a-year salary increase for MPs. He will present a bill on Thursday to implement recent recommendations from a committee on the remuneration of elected members of the National Assembly.
Posted at 1:19 am. Updated at 05:00
The timing of the submission is not irrelevant: This Thursday is the deadline for submitting a bill that can still be passed in the same session – in this case before the summer holidays. The dossier will therefore be clarified by the end of the meeting, June 9th.
With more than two-thirds of the members of the National Assembly, the Legault government can pass the law alone. But a matter like the remuneration of elected officials is generally settled with the support of another party. The Liberals would be in favor of the committee’s recommendations and therefore a bill which we are proposing to the government but which the party has not endorsed at this time. Québec Solidaire disagrees; The Parti Québécois (PQ) shows restraint.
In February, the Bureau of the National Assembly – the governing body of Parliament made up of elected officials – voted to set up a committee to review MPs’ pay. The measure was supported by the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) and the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ).
The committee included former MPs Lise Thériault (PLQ) and Martin Ouellet (PQ) and HR specialist Jérôme Côté.
In its report, released April 19, the committee recommended a 30 percent increase in base pay for MPs from $101,561 to $131,766 per year. On top of that base fee, an expense allowance of $38,184 is expected to increase compensation to $169,950, the committee said.
In addition to base pay and expense allowance, the vast majority of MPs (115 out of 125) receive additional compensation for performing a parliamentary function – Chair ($15,000), Commission President ($25,000), Parliamentary Assistant ($20,000) Dollar). ), Minister ($76,000) or Prime Minister ($106,000) for example. This additional compensation is also increased by 30% as it corresponds to a percentage of the basic annual compensation.
Higher compensation than anywhere else in Canada
The committee recognizes in its report that the basic salary of a member of the National Assembly is higher than in the other provinces (see table). However, he adds that the intensity of the work here is greater because Quebec has decided to fully exercise certain constitutional powers.
According to his report, the basic salary of a member of parliament is also somewhat lower than the maximum salary of a political consultant working for him. According to the committee, councillors’ salaries have risen by 30% in ten years, while elected officials’ pay has risen by 15% over the same period.
MNAs also have a lower base salary than many executives in the public and parastatal sectors. There has been a “gap” over the years and we need to “fill that gap,” the committee said. He also justifies a raise with a deputy’s workload and his atypical schedule.
He recommended no changes to the MPs’ pension plan, which is dubbed “Ferrari” because it is so generous and unparalleled anywhere else. A previous committee had proposed in 2013 increasing MPs’ salaries in exchange for eliminating certain allowances, cleaning up others and, most importantly, imposing a slimming diet on this pension fund. He added that “the problem of the legislature being both judge and jury in determining its own working conditions can only be solved in the long term by establishing a regular mechanism for analysis by an independent committee whose recommendations would be enforceable.” The report by the Thériault-Ouellet Committee also proposes creating an independent process one day. The Office of the National Assembly has already considered this, but has not yet taken any further action.
Economy and Energy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon himself said last month that elected officials should not decide their own remuneration. “It’s hard to be judged and judged. I have chaired several compensation committees for public companies. I think we should let third parties check what we’re doing and judge whether we’re overpaid or underpaid. The key to this is having people on the outside. Because it is certain that we cannot ask elected officials to decide how they are paid,” he said.
The forthcoming increase in MPs’ pay comes amid negotiations with state officials who are demanding a catch-up salary. It also comes at a time when the rising cost of living is draining taxpayers’ wallets. In Quebec, the argument is that there will never be a good time to review MPs’ salaries and that the matter has dragged on for a long time.