WARMINGTON: Raise for MPPs flies in face of Ford Nation brand

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A $41,000-a-year raise for MPPs at Queen’s Park and an $74,000 annual windfall for Premier Doug Ford is the epitome of the gravy train he spent his political career railing against.

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It’s a betrayal of everything Ford Nation was built on — and a stiff bill being handed to Ontario taxpayers who are not exactly flush with cash in 2025. There is no way the premier’s late great brother, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, would ever have agreed to this.

In fact, Rob Ford would get bent out of shape for sandwiches and drinks served at council meetings and councillors getting comped parking, TTC passes or free admission to the zoo. Imagine how he would feel about MPPs salaries going up 35% from $116,500 to $157,350. He’d be the first to call out his Progressive Conservative premier brother for going from $208,974 to $282,129 and governing more like a Liberal premier.

And boo hoo to the notion that elected Ontario legislators have had their wages frozen since 2009 — ironically by Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty. Many people have seen their salaries stalled. Many don’t have jobs at all.

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Don’t forget that dozens of sitting government MPPs were moved up $16,000 a year by being appointed as parliamentary assistants — first by Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne with Ford following suit. There were some other creative ways to pay MPPs as well — like those leaving Queen’s Park after six years of service receiving a one-year severance package at $116,500 — far more than private-sector payouts after six years.

That perk will stay in place.

“I don’t want to sound like a bleeding heart for politicians but come on folks, these guys work their backs off,” Ford told reporters before the election.

So what! Everybody works their backs off. Many work way harder than any politician ever did. Legislatures are closed on weekends, by 4 p.m. each day and MPPs have long summer recesses. They are supposed to work hard. They work for us and are handsomely compensated to do so.

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Even though they are not setting the world on fire as they fight a potential Trump-inspired recession, no one is saying MPPs shouldn’t get a raise. But three or four per cent, which is higher than most would ever get. Ten times that is a slap in the face to struggling Ontarians. Many businesses are closing and jobs are disappearing. If MPPs earned this huge increase to make up for lost time, everybody should.

It’s not like Ontario is booming right now. In fact, it’s stumbling. Thousands of jobs are on the line, from the cancelling of auto-sector shifts to retail stores like The Bay going out of business and the billions being invested into battery plants not turning out to be as robust a boom as hoped. Ontario in April saw a 7.8 per cent unemployment rate and it was at 8.6 per cent unemployment rate for Toronto.

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These are not good times here — except for MPPs receiving this sweet raise. Many Ontarians, after all, can’t afford groceries, are in debt to their ears, using credit to pay basic bills and can’t afford to put their kids in hockey.

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And Ontario’s debt is estimated to reach as much as $428 billion in 2025, which is more than $100 billion more than it was in 2018. Meanwhile, it’s not like Queen’s Park is doing a stellar job at getting the Eglinton Crosstown open, or their handling of the Greenbelt, or that fancy spa at Ontario Place. But these fat cats are taking care of themselves while leaving a growing debt to be paid by our children who may not ever have a full-time job, own a home or access a pension.

This is not what Rob and Doug Ford, circa 2010, would ever have condoned. And it flies in the face of the Ford Nation brand.

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