There has been a lot of talk this year about the salaries of deputies of the National Assembly, increased in June while negotiations with the public sector were being prepared. CAQ and Liberal elected officials voted for a bill increasing their basic compensation by 30%, while the PQ and Solidarity members voted against. This increase was decided on the basis of a report from two former MPs and a human resources expert mandated by elected officials. As the subject may come up at your holiday family gatherings, here are some keys to fueling the debate.
It is in Quebec that provincial deputies are the best paid
Among the legislative assemblies of the Canadian provinces, it is in the National Assembly of Quebec that elected officials are the best paid. In June, their base remuneration increased from $101,561 to $131,766 — with the exception of the deputies of Québec solidaire and the Parti québécois, who refused this increase in whole or in part.
Their Alberta counterparts receive $120,936 and Ontario provincial deputies, $116,500, indicated the committee report on which Quebec elected officials relied to pass a law increasing their remuneration. Federal MPs remain the highest paid in Canada, with compensation of $194,600 paid by the House of Commons.
To their basic salary, Quebec MPs can also add an expense allowance of $20,256, after tax. And, depending on the functions they perform, they may also receive additional bonuses. The Prime Minister thus receives $138,354 more, or 105% of his basic compensation. For a minister, this bonus is $98,825 (75% of his basic compensation). An MP who chairs a parliamentary committee will receive an additional $32,942 (25% of his basic compensation).
The increase in MP salaries was presented as a “catch-up”
Before the adoption of the bill, Prime Minister François Legault had affirmed that this 30% increase was a “catch-up”. Over the years, the basic allowance of deputies had nevertheless increased, following in particular the bonuses granted to senior executives in the civil service.
From 2013 to 2023, it increased from $88,186 to $101,561, an increase of 15%, noted the report of the committee which examined the question. Its authors indicated, however, that the remuneration of civil service executives had increased by 22% during the same period, due to adjustments to salary scales from which elected officials had not benefited.
The MPs’ pension plan remains a “Cadillac”
The committee responsible for analyzing remuneration only had the mandate to examine their basic compensation: the generous pension plan for deputies was therefore not reviewed.
In 2013, the committee chaired by former judge Claire L’Heureux-Dubé, which examined the overall remuneration of deputies, nevertheless recommended increasing the basic compensation while reducing the costs of the elected officials’ retirement plan.
One of the members of this committee, the former Secretary General of the National Assembly François Côté, emphasized that deputies accumulated 4% of their remuneration per year for their retirement. A Quebec MP who is elected for 25 years could thus accumulate 100% of his remuneration, which would be indexed. “There is no equivalent anywhere: it’s a Cadillac, even a Ferrari,” he said.
This rate is higher than the 2% rate enjoyed by the majority of employees in Quebec’s public and parapublic sectors – and members of other Canadian legislative assemblies -, noted the committee in 2013.
The Ethics Commissioner judges that the elected officials placed themselves in a situation of conflict of interest
Commissioner Ariane Mignolet estimated at the end of November that deputies should have postponed the entry into force of their salary increase until after the next elections, since they never have the assurance of being re-elected. In this way, they would have avoided the appearance of a conflict of interest that they created by granting themselves an immediate increase in their salary.
Mme Mignolet reiterated that elected officials should have an independent committee on their remuneration, whose decisions would be enforceable, to avoid the appearance of “putting their hands in it”. This recommendation was already made in 2013 by the L’Heureux-Dubé committee.