Victoria MP Denise Savoie announced her retirement from federal politics today, and despite having only served 6.5 years, she leaves with a platinum MP pension.
Savoie, 69, begins retired life with a $33,180 annual pension, fully indexed to the cost of living. Should she live to be 80 years old, her lifetime pension payout would be roughly $456,000.
The average Canadian would need to save $55,000 a year for 6.5 years to match Savoie's MP pension payout. Savoie contributed just under $14,000 annually to her pension plan.
The vast majority of Canadians working in the private sector have no employer pension plan. Those who do, normally have defined-contribution, RRSP-type plans, which might match workers' contributions $1 for $1.
For the MP pension plan, however, taxpayers pay $24 for every dollar a politician contrbutes to their retirement, as taxpayers cover the plan's 10.4 per cent growth rate. If you think that's unfair, sign our petition here. For our full MP pension report, click here.
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