By Canadian Press

Montreal MNA calls out privileged politicians who collect big money for leaving office

May 27, 2019 | 2:15 PM

MONTREAL — Privileged Quebec politicians shouldn’t accept generous cheques from taxpayers when they quit politics or lose elections, says a recently departed member of the legislature.

Amir Khadir announced over the weekend he would donate the $90,000 payment he received after leaving office in 2018 as a member of the Quebec solidaire party. He said all the cash will go to community groups in his former Montreal riding.

Quebec politicians are entitled to up to a year’s salary when they leave office. They can only collect the money if they served a full mandate, lost an election or retired due to a serious family or health-related matter.

The so-called “transition allowance” is supposed to help pay the bills while they find new work after having sacrificed their time serving the public.

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Khadir — a physician — says he doesn’t need the money and wants to send a message to all the other privileged politicians in the province.

“If people like me quit and immediately return to their work as lawyers, engineers or doctors, and they have a source of revenue, I don’t see why they should collect that money,” he said in an interview with The Canadian Press Sunday.

He says he’s still bothered by the decision of former education minister Yves Bolduc, who quit politics in 2015 — in the middle of the Liberals’ mandate — and went back to work as a doctor after pocketing a $150,000 transition allowance.

That episode embarrassed the Liberals and helped push them to change the law. In late 2015, the legislature unanimously adopted a bill removing the automatic right to a cash payment for retiring politicians.

The new rules stipulate departing members can only collect transition allowances if they complete their term in office, with strict exceptions.

But Khadir says the 2015 law isn’t strict enough.

“We need to plant the idea in the heads of our colleagues that the money should be seen as a transition allowance,” he said, “and not as a bonus that we have a right to, and that we can pocket no matter the circumstance.”

Ewan Sauves, spokesman for Premier Francois Legault, said Monday that the Coalition Avenir Quebec government has no intention of modifying the law. He said in an email that Khadir’s decision “belongs to him” and declined further comment.

Renaud Brossard, Quebec director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, an advocacy group that lobbies for lower taxes and less government spending, said politicians shouldn’t receive any money for leaving office. He said a number of other provinces offer similar allowances, but Alberta scrapped its program in 2012.

“Yes, politics is a hard job, but it’s also a privilege,” he said in an interview Monday. “This privilege shouldn’t be a reason for politicians to enrich themselves.”

Elected members of the Quebec legislature receive a base salary of $95,704, which increases for cabinet members and other parliamentary office holders.

“The salaries of politicians are already high compared with the average Quebecer,” Brossard said. “Why should the taxpayer finance a transition for people who are among the richest in society?”

Caroline Plante and Giuseppe Valiante, The Canadian Press