Canada’s Governor General’s salary has increased by $39,300 since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF).
In 2019, the Governor General’s annual salary was $302,800, but that compensation gradually rose 13% to $342,100 last year, according to information provided to the FCC by the Office of the Privy Council, which says the increases were determined in accordance with the provisions of the Governor General’s Act.
Nicolas Gagnon, Quebec Director for the FCC, wonders why such salary increases were paid to the Governor General when she already enjoys, he says, an extraordinary pace of life on the backs of taxpayers. In his opinion, it is high time for the Government of Canada to put a stop to these advantages that are disconnected from the reality of taxpayers.
The FCC adds that in addition to receiving an annual salary of $342,100, the Governor General of Canada has access to a taxpayer expense account of more than $200,000 per year for the rest of her life and until six months after his death as well as a pension, regardless of the length of the mandate.
The Bloc Québécois (BQ) protests that a salary increase of nearly $40,000 over three years has been granted for a job which, it writes, ”consists essentially of attending social functions”.
The Bloc Québécois spokesperson for the Privy Council, Rhéal Fortin, adds in a press release that for a symbolic function, the salary should be symbolic.
“We must put an end to this waste of public money and reduce the wage treatment of this archaic function to a minimum,” he adds.
As for the Governor General’s expenses, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation recalls that the week-long trip to Dubai in March 2022 to visit Expo 2020 cost more than $1 million, of which just under $100,000 for food on the plane.
The Governor General is currently on a five-day official visit to Finland, which will end next Friday. Governors General make official trips abroad at the request of the Prime Minister of Canada.
On its website, the Federation posts a petition calling for a reduction in the remuneration of governors general. Canadians are invited to sign it.