ARROGANT POLITICIANS IGNORE THE POINT

   On Feb. 17, York Centre MPP Roman Baber put forth a private member’s bill calling on all Ontario MPPs to take a pay cut. The bill, entitled the We Are All In This Together Act, would reduce all 124 Ontario MPPs’ salaries to $500 per week (the same amount as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit) while the province’s emergency orders remained in place. Currently, Ontario MPPs are paid a salary of about $2,235 each week ($116,550 per year) before taxes.
   Cynics are quick to call Baber’s proposed legislation a stunt. But even the silliest stunt conveys some truth. And politicians could have used it as an opportunity to seriously consider the need for pay cuts to reflect the reality of the people they represent.
   Instead, MPPs turbo-charged the cynicism cycle.
   The Progressive Conservatives’ Government House Leader, Paul Calandra, tabled a retaliatory motion to reduce only Baber’s pay to CERB levels, and it passed in the legislature with unanimous consent from the Progressive Conservatives, New Democrats, and Liberals.

  The speaker tossed the motion the following day, noting that salary changes must be made through legislation. But the stunt was unforgivably tone deaf, especially against the backdrop of the province’s devastating job numbers.