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TERRAZZANO: Canadians fed up with government entitlement culture 

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TERRAZZANO: Canadians fed up with government entitlement culture 

Politicians are united in taking another raise. Normal working people are united against them

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There’s a clear divide between the people paying the bills and the government that’s racking up the bills.

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Poll after poll shows Canadians are fed up with the automatic pay-raise culture in Ottawa.

TERRAZZANO: Canadians fed up with government entitlement culture  Back to video

Year after year shows that politicians and bureaucrats feel entitled to more money simply because they’re on the taxpayer payroll.

Members of Parliament receive a pay raise on April 1 each year. This year’s raise will range from an extra $8,800 to $17,600. A backbench MP will take a $218,600 salary after the pay raise. A minister will collect $322,700 and the prime minister will take home $437,200.

Politicians are united in taking another raise. Normal working people are united against them.

Leger polling shows 80% of Canadians oppose the MP pay raise.

What other political issues result in 80% of people agreeing?

Yet just one MP is publicly standing with 80% of Canadians and is opposing the raise: Mike Dawson, a Conservative MP from New Brunswick.

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“At a time when everyday Canadians are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living, I cannot in good conscience accept the pay increase of nearly $10,000 which every member of Parliament is set to receive,” Dawson said.

Dawson has already received thousands of emails from supportive Canadians. Leger polling confirms that 78% of Canadians support his decision to refuse the pay raise.

Entitlement culture starts at the top

The entitlement culture in government starts with the prime minister, then spreads to MPs and throughout the entire bureaucracy.

Government union bosses point to “the yearly salary increases of senators and Members of Parliament” as a reason why bureaucrats should take more taxpayer cash.

And bureaucrats are consuming a huge helping of taxpayers’ money.

Governor General Mary Simon, for example, just helped herself to another raise. Taxpayers are now paying nearly $400,000 per year for the functionally symbolic role.

That’s just Simon’s salary. The governor general can also expense taxpayers up to $130,000 for their clothes. When a governor general leaves office, they collect a $150,000 annual pension and can continue expensing taxpayers up to $200,000 every year.

Canadians also oppose the governor general’s automatic annual pay raises. About 60% of Canadians support cutting the governor general’s salary, according to Leger polling.

Nearly every government executive is also cashing in.

About 98% of government executives took a bonus last year, costing taxpayers $201 million.

What did government executives do to earn their bonuses? Government departments met just 54% of their own performance targets.

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Rewarded with tax dollars

Government executives crafted their own test. They nearly failed their own test. Then they rewarded themselves with more tax dollars.

With all these bonuses, you’d think Canadians were over-the-moon happy with the quality of government services.

But half of Canadians say federal services have gotten worse since 2016, despite the cost of the bureaucracy rising by 80% over 10 years.

MPs give themselves raises every year, despite 80% of Canadians opposing them.

The governor general takes a raise every year, despite 60% of Canadians wanting to cut the position’s salary.

Nearly every government executive receives a bonus each year, despite most Canadians wanting to cut bureaucracy.

Right now, just one MP has spoken out against the taxpayer-funded good life within the golden gates of government and said “no” to another helping of taxpayer cash.

It will take courage and moral clarity for political leaders to stare down the bureaucracy and their own colleagues and say, “No more.”

But the polls show Canadians will reward political leaders for exposing this government entitlement and sticking up for the taxpayers footing the bills.

Franco Terrazzano is the federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation  

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