Independent MPP Roman Baber is proposing introducing a private member’s bill that would reduce MPP’s salary to just $500 per week — the same as what millions of Canadians received under CERB.
“The government is quick to shut down the economy, leaving hundreds of thousands of workers on employment insurance,” Baber said Wednesday.
“The unemployment rate is almost double and more than 400,000 Ontarians remain unemployed compared to pre-pandemic levels.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Baber asked the Legislative Assembly for unanimous consent but it was denied. In response, Government House Leader Paul Calandra proposed his own motion to have only Baber’s salary cut.
Speaker Ted Arnott said that motions affecting MPP’s salaries may not be permissible. Arnott will report back tomorrow with a decision on whether Calandra’s motion was valid or not.
Baber, who was removed from the Ontario PC caucus for opposing lockdowns, says reducing salaries would help his fellow MPP’s “appreciate the consequences” of the lockdowns they voted for.
The “We Are All in This Together Act” would reduce MPP salaries to $2,000 per month until all of Ford’s emergency orders are ended with the exception of hospitals and long-term care homes.
MPP’s in Ontario currently make around $2,240 a week before taxes.
In January, Baber was removed from the Ontario PC caucus after he called for an end to the Ford government’s aggressive lockdown measures.
Baber noted that lockdowns have led to a spike in suicides, bankruptcies and divorces. He also claimed that ICU capacity is actually better than before the pandemic.
“The medicine is killing the patient,” he wrote.
