Edmonton: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation today rejected calls from city council to examine the implementation of a councillor pension plan. The Federation said such plans have a history of abusing taxpayers and that the job of city councillor should be an act of public service, not a lifetime vocation.

"We're not against a review of councillors' salaries," said CTF Alberta Director Mitchel Gray, "but we fundamentally disagree with taking a giant step backward and providing yet more politicians with a lifetime golden handshake."

"Taxpayers have been ripped-off for decades through overly-generous pension plans like those provided to MPs and MLAs," said Gray. "We've worked long and hard to get rid of pork-barrel pensions in Alberta and taxpayers aren't going to roll-over now."

Gray pointed out that one of the Klein administration's first acts was to scrap the MLA pension plan, and that almost all Alberta MPs have rejected a federal pension. "Why would we give municipal politicians pensions when almost every other elected official in Alberta has recognized that pensions are unnecessary and result in an abuse of the public trust "

Gray suggested city councillors do what thousands of other Albertans do and put money away in an RRSP. "A little self-discipline in putting money towards a tax-sheltered, growth-oriented RRSP should help these downtrodden councillors deal with their retirement needs."

The Federation welcomed an independent review of council salaries but cautioned against major increases in pay. "For what has been traditionally regarded as a part-time job councillors do OK," said Gray. Having one-third of their salaries exempt from taxation puts them into a salary range of almost double the national average."

"City council should be focussing on how to cut Edmontonians' taxes, not thinking up new ways to spend more money on lining politicians pockets," concluded Gray.