Pushing back the 2025 federal election by one week could cost taxpayers as much as $120 million, and grant seven B.C.-based MPs a pension even if they lose in their respective ridings.
While the next federal election is currently scheduled for Oct. 20, 2025, the governing federal Liberals last week introduced several changes to the Elections Act.
They include pushing the fixed election date by a week, to Oct. 27, 2025, to avoid a conflict with the start of Diwali, a Hindi religious festival running several days and celebrated by millions in Canada, as well as Alberta’s municipal election.
But this change would also qualify 80 MPs elected in October 2019 for pensions totaling $120 million, assuming each of them loses, according to the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation.
“If even half of these MPs lose, moving back the election one week would cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars,” Franco Terrazzano, CTF’s federal director, said in a release Monday (March 25). “When MPs tweak the system to pad their pockets, it sends a signal to thousands of bureaucrats that they should dig deeper into the trough too.”
MPs are eligible for pensions ranging from $32,000 to $49,000 after six years of service and MPs first elected in 2019 are not eligible for the pension until Oct. 21, 2025 — something that would change if Election Day is pushed seven days and if they lose.
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According to the federation, B.C. MPs to be impacted include:
Taylor Bachrach (NDP, Skeena—Bulkley)
Lauren Collins (NDP, Victoria)
Marc Dalton (Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge)
Tracy Gray (Conservative, Kelowna-Lake Country)
Rob Morrison (Conservative, Kootenay-Columbia)
Tako Van Popta (Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove)
Brad Vis (Conservative, Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon)
Patrick Weiler (Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country)
Terrazzano said the proposed legislation “looks like the government is pushing back the election, so more MPs can take a very lucrative, taxpayer-funded pension.”
The federal government has rejected these charges.
“By making it easier for Canadians to vote and further cracking down on money from unknown or foreign sources, we are further strengthening it,” Democractic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc said.
“Our government believes that a strong democracy begins with enabling all Canadians to freely exercise their fundamental right to choose their representatives – and we’ll always be there to defend that right.”
Other changes under the legislation would include adding two additional days of advance voting; improving vote-by-mail; and offering dedicated, onsite voting for electors in long-term care.
Conservative MPs would benefit the most from the pension implications, with 32 in line for eligibility, followed by federal Liberals with 22, the Bloc Quebecois with 20 and federal New Democrats with six.
CFT released the estimates as part of broader critique – the tax advocacy group is also calling for reforms to the MP pension plan overall, ending severance and the transition allowance and cancelling the pending April 1 increase in the salaries of MP.
The group is estimating that members of parliament will receive a 4.2 per cent pay raise on April 1. Using government data, CTF estimates that backbench MPs will receive an extra $8,100, ministers an extra $11,900 for ministers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau $16,200.