After kicking this around for a while, I finally figured out a rationale for the Conservative government spending well over $4 million on 20 new MPs.
The move makes us probably one of the most over-represented countries in the world. For example, the United States has 10 times our population, but only one-fifth more equivalent, elected officials.
The facts are, all members of parliament make a basic salary of $157,731. Statistics show that fewer and fewer people are voting – most likely because they don’t feel it makes any difference which political party gets elected – and their overall liveability and standard of living is certainly not improving.
The decision to increase the deficit annually by this significant amount in these difficult economic times amounts to the equivalent budget for five food banks.
Adding 20 more ‘debaters’ or ‘world travellers’ can only lead to the conclusion that our government is saying, ‘Let’s continue to cut public services and give Canadians 20 more politicians not to vote for.’
Anthony Mears
Oak Bay