Paul Chiang may have stepped aside in disgrace, but don't worry — he won't be stepping away empty-handed.

The Liberal MP from Markham–Unionville, who voluntarily bowed out of public life after reports surfaced that he floated the idea of ransoming a Conservative candidate to the Chinese Communist Party for a cool million dollars, will still be walking away with a hefty $115,000 severance package — courtesy of you, the taxpayer.

Yes, the same Paul Chiang who allegedly proposed handing over Joe Tay, a Conservative candidate of Hong Kong descent targeted by a Beijing bounty, to the CCP for cash, gets to ride off into the sunset with a six-figure payout. Apparently, peddling in transnational repression doesn't disqualify you from cashing in on the perks of parliamentary office.

And he's not the only one.

Liberal MP Han Dong, who faced his own foreign interference scandal with busing in Chinese national high school students to vote in his nomination in 2019,  is also reportedly collecting over $100,000 in severance after exiting public life. These are the golden parachutes awaiting Liberals who either "retire voluntarily" or leave under clouds of serious misconduct.

Meanwhile, Randy Boissonnault — the OTHER Randy — opted not to run again and will still take home $44,000 in severance and a $53,000 annual taxpayer-funded pension. Former Liberal MP from Edmonton Centre's many scandals involved questionable procurement deals and a debunked claim of Indigenous ancestry rejected by the Métis Nation of Alberta. In Trudeau's Ottawa, fake credentials and insider contracts don't get you fired — they get you paid.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation estimates that $6.6 million in severance cheques will be issued to MPs who lost or didn't run again, with another $5 million in annual pension payouts racking up to a total of $187 million by the time these ex-politicians hit 90.

In any real-world job, if you tried to sell out your coworker to a hostile foreign power, you'd be lucky to get a restraining order and a pink slip. In Ottawa? You get a standing ovation and a cheque for $115K.

No wonder Canadians are cynical.