Canadians Support Pay Cut For MPs During COVID-19

Two-thirds of Canadians in a recent survey think members of Parliament need to take a pay cut during the COVID-19 crisis.

Aaron Wudrick, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said with so many people out of work, struggling Canadians may be asking ‘is it not unreasonable to ask people in government to share in some of that?’

“It’s not about being mean and spiteful, it’s about recognizing there is only some much help to go around right now. Wouldn’t it be a little bit fairer if government shared some of that burden,” Wudrick said.

.@taxpayerDOTcom survey on @angusreidforum: Two thirds of Canadians want MPs to cut their own salaries: https://t.co/Wj7fzGiQyN #cdnpoli

— Aaron Wudrick 🇨🇦 (@awudrick) May 8, 2020

Wudrick notes other politicians around the globe have already done this, including New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

“[She] said she was going to take, her and her cabinet and all her top civil servants would take a 20 per cent pay cut for the next six months. We have seen similar moves in Japan and India where members of parliament have taken 20 to 30 per cent pay cut for the next year,” Wudrick said.

An online survey was conducted by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation between May 1 and 3 involving 1,505 Canadians who are members of the Angus Reid Forum.

Forty-three per cent of respondents strongly agreed and 23 per cent agreed with the statement: “Due to the current COVID-19 situation, members of Parliament should reduce their salaries.”