Liberal-NDP cabal drop pension grab amid public scrutiny

Conservatives say moving the 2025 general election back one week is ‘a cynical, dishonest attempt’ to pad Liberal and New Democrat pockets with pensions.

Alex Dhaliwal
  |   December 04, 2024   |   News   |   1 Comment

After considerable pressure, MPs decided not to pursue a fixed election date for the 2025 general election. Opposition MPs lambasted the Liberal and NDP caucus for attempting to guarantee pensions to two-termers.

Dominic LeBlanc, the public safety minister, earlier proposed to move the 2025 general election from October 20, 2025, to October 27 by amending Bill C-65, An Act To Amend The Canada Elections Act.

On Tuesday, the Commons House affairs committee agreed to delete the clause in amendments to C-65, Blacklock’s learned. It would have secured pensions for some 80 elected officials, including 28 Liberal and New Democrat MPs.

“There are over 40 amendments in our amendment package that deal specifically with the date of the election,” said Liberal MP Ryan Turnbull, parliamentary secretary for finance. 

Liberal committee members “will support the change to that,” he pledged. That followed a promise from New Democrats to strike the clause from the amendment package.

In prior testimony, Minister LeBlanc said pushing back the next federal election may not proceed as planned, claiming the pension entitlement had “nothing to do with that decision to move the date.” 

LeBlanc claimed the bill would strengthen Canada's democracy by accommodating Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists observing Diwali on Monday, October 20, 2025.

Conservatives have repeatedly called out the ploy as “a cynical, dishonest attempt by the Liberals and the NDP to pad their pockets with pensions.” 

“They sold it as an election bill,” said Conservative MP Michael Cooper. He previously said the Liberal-NDP coalition government only cared about securing their pensions.

Pension benefits currently average $77,900 a year under the Members Of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act. Two-term MPs first elected in 2019 do not qualify until Tuesday, October 21, 2025, a day after the fixed election date.

“Canadians are outraged by this,” Cooper said. “Canadians deserve answers.”

During heated testimony, Cooper asked Minister LeBlanc: “whose idea was it to pad your pockets?” LeBlanc deflected, claiming the MP demonstrated “supreme arrogance” in suggesting that no Conservative MP would lose their seat. 

A government spokesperson earlier claimed the legislative change had nothing to do with pensions. The minister reiterated that claim before the committee. 

“Was it a Liberal idea or an NDP idea to move back the election by a week so it guarantees defeated Liberal and NDP MPs their pension?” asked Conservative MP Eric Duncan. “Pension entitlement had nothing to do with that decision to move the date,” LeBlanc replied.

MP Duncan then asked the minister about a “secret meeting” on January 25, where Liberal and NDP MPs, and their political staff, met with Elections Canada to discuss tabling C-65. 

“Do you think it’s appropriate that [only] the NDP … got access to … briefings that were not offered to any other party?” he asked. LeBlanc said the meetings were “routine” and “normal,” citing their Supply and Confidence Agreement with New Democrats at the time. 

Duncan said the meetings were “completely inappropriate,” as not all opposition parties received “access to information and documents and crafted a bill.”

Canada’s election chief later said the secretive meeting did not include conversations on expanding parliamentary pensions. “I had discussions on the elements,” Stéphane Perrault testified at the committee on November 21.

“We were lucky to benefit from the non-partisan advice of both senior public servants and Elections Canada,” LeBlanc told MPs on November 7. “There is no mystery.”

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Alex Dhaliwal

Calgary Based Journalist

Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.

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  • Bruce Atchison
    commented 2024-12-04 19:56:48 -0500
    Whoever wins, we lose. Every time there’s an election, the government gets into power. I’m afraid Pierre Poilievre will turn against his base once he’s prime minister. So many other Conservative hopefuls have shafted us in the past.