Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s oversized cabinet will cost Canadians $3 million more than when the Liberals were first sworn in in 2015.
According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), cabinet members will cost taxpayers a combined $10.8 million per year in salaries.
“Taxpayers are paying for a bigger and more expensive cabinet,” said CTF Federal Director Franco Terrazzano.
“The federal government has a lot of work to do to chip away at the $1 trillion debt and it should start with leadership and restraint at the top.”
Currently, Trudeau’s base salary is $371,600 and each cabinet minister will be paid $274,000 annually. This comes after all ministers received two salary raises over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The numbers do not include all of the other additional benefits cabinet members and the prime minister receive.
Currently, Trudeau is making $13,800 more per year than he did before COVID-19 and ministers are getting paid $10,100 more.
“Taxpayers are struggling and the cost to pay for our federal cabinet shouldn’t be rising during the pandemic,” said Terrazzano.
“Taxpayers expect to see leadership from this cabinet and that means Trudeau should be shrinking cabinet and all politicians should reverse the two pandemic pay raises.”
Earlier this month, the CTF revealed that the latest Statistics Canada employment data shows that while government jobs continue to grow, private sector workers are struggling.
According to data, Canada added 107,000 “public administration” jobs over the course of the pandemic, meanwhile the private sector saw a loss of 256,500 jobs.
