Unplug the MP Pension Magic Machine

Canadian Taxpayers.com 

If you could put a loonie into a machine and get $23.30 out every time, would you ever stop? Probably not. That human nature may explain why Members of Parliament have been moving so slowly to reform their platinum-plated pension plan. Unfortunately for taxpayers, we are that cash machine. Earlier this year, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) released a report showing that taxpayers put in $23.30 for every one dollar parliamentarians contribute to their pension plans. Some MPs snarled back at the CTF, claiming the numbers were wrong (they aren’t). Others made it clear they were entitled to their entitlements. A few shared the public’s concern that the payouts were too far out of line with what regular Canadians were experiencing. Still nothing has changed. The governing Conservatives have promised action, but the federal budget came and went with no specifics on MP pension reform. So the taxpayer keeps on paying. The dirty little secret about MP pensions is that they aren’t invested into the market like other pension funds. They simply set an arbitrary rate of interest and taxpayers kick in whatever amount is necessary to make it grow by that much. Naturally, MPs settled on a return of 10.4 per cent per year—making it the best-performing pension in Canada. (more)