February 18, 2026
Toronto, Ontario

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) continues to provide invaluable information on the government’s obscene spending.  Together with the Auditor General, they prove time and again that the government does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.

The latest waste of taxpayers’ money to emerge from the swamp on Parliament Hill is a reminder that, come April 1st (how appropriate to come on April Fool’s Day!), federal MPs and Senators are set to receive automatic pay raises of 4.2%.  According to CTF estimates, the automatic pay increase for MPs will “range from $8,800 to $17,600.”  Currently, annual basic salaries are: backbench MP – $209,800; minister – $309,700; while our globetrotting Prime Minster “earns” $419,600.  With the pay increases, that brings annual salaries to: $218,600; $322,700 and $437,200, respectively.   In 2025, a Senator’s base salary was $184,800 which will rise in 2026 by $7,761 to $192,561.  All this is before perks, of course.  In addition, the 4.2% increase is on top of increases of 3.2% in 2025 and 4.4% in 2024.

This comes at a time when individual Canadians are floundering financially due to high food costs, high interest rates for mortgages, high gas prices, etc.  Their financial situation has been caused by the Liberal government’s mismanagement of the economy.  This mismanagement includes a staggering national debt, a waste of taxpayers’ money on ideological projects such as climate change, and huge payments to special interest groups such as feminists and homosexuals.  Contributing also to this problem is the high-flying extravagance of both Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney on travel and catering costs.

In this difficult financial situation, Liberal, Bloc, and NDP MPs have maintained a silent acquiescence to the financial largesse now being thrown at them.  Only one Conservative MP, Mike Dawson (Miramichi – Grand Lake, NB) has had the moral courage to refuse this increase in pay.  For doing so, he has been heckled and harassed by other MPs who apparently have a greater interest in their personal income and pensionable future than the public’s best interest.

In short, at a time when Canadians are struggling to afford housing and food, our “representatives” are just sticking their feet further in the trough.  Do MPs really share the concerns of their constituents or is being an MP nothing more than a vast subsidized ego trip for personal recognition and a generous income?

For Canadians living on a fixed income, things are far worse, given that the maximum monthly CPP payment increased by only 2.0% from $1,433.00 in 2025 to $1,507.65 in 2026.  That’s a whopping annual increase of $895.80!

Call REAL Women “old fashioned” but it is immoral and obscene when those making six-figure salaries give themselves a 4.2% salary increase, while the retired receive a mere 2% on a three or four figure monthly payment.  Not every Canadian receives the maximum CPP as the amount received depends on how much and for how long one has contributed to the CPP.  The average CPP pension at age 65 is $803.76. Maximum OAS payments remain the same for the January to March 2026 quarter at $742.31 (age 65-74) and $816.54 (age 75 and over). (OAS benefits are revised quarterly in January, April, July and October to adjust for increases in the cost of living.)  And remember, CPP and OAS are taxable benefits.

Show Leadership and Solidarity

From past experience, there is little hope that self-interested MPs in the Liberal, NDP and Bloc parties, will give up their undeserved income.  No Conservative MP has shown any moral courage or leadership except MP Mike Dawson, (Miramichi – Grand Lake, NB) in refusing the pay increase.

It’s time Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative leader, and his entire Caucus show some real moral and fiscal leadership as well as solidarity with average Canadians.  The last time any fiscal sense was shown by MPs was in 2008 during a Conservative Minority Government when MPs rejected salary increases because of a poor national economy. There is a precedent, therefore, for MPs to give up their salary increase.  Consequently Mr. Poilievre and his colleagues must join MP Dawson and decline the 2026 pay raise and all future automatic pay raises.  Pay raises should be earned, and given the mess Parliament has gotten the country into, there is no indication that any of them have earned a pay raise.

The six-figure salaries currently enjoyed by MPs are certainly more than generous when considering that the average salaries in Canada in 2025 ranged from $59,594 in PEI to $91,493 in Nunavut.  In Ontario, the average salary for 2025 was $70,411.

The bottom line is that MPs’ salaries, if cut in half, would still be more than the average salary earned by Canadians – many of whom are in the Private (wealth producing) Sector and actually working for a living!

It is time for the Conservative Party to show Canadians that it is really one with them and not part of the Laurentian Elite that has brought Canada to the edge of insolvency.  It is time to show Canadians that the Conservative Party believes in fiscal responsibility and accountability, sufficient to turn the country around.  The time for words is past, the time now is for action.

 For further information contact:

Pauline Guzik
National President
REAL Women of Canada

Cathy Smith
Western Canada Board Member
REAL Women of Canada

Email:  info@realwomenofcanada.ca
Web:   www.realwomenofcanada.ca

 

 

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