Photo: Parliament of Canada

Former MP Tracy Gray will receive a sizable severance after being defeated in last month's federal election

Former Kelowna-Lake Country MP Tracy Gray isn’t leaving public life totally empty handed.

Gray, who lost her seat in last month’s federal election to Liberal challenger Stephen Fuhr, does not qualify for an MP pension since she failed to serve the full six years needed to qualify.

Gray, who was elected Oct. 21, 2019, served just five years, six months, 189 days.

However, Members of Parliament who either resign or are defeated prior to hitting that six year benchmark are entitled to a severance package equal to a portion of their yearly MP salary.

In the case of Gray, according to calculations released by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, that works out to a severance cheque of $104,900.

Plus, she is entitled to be reimbursed for the amount she paid into the MP pension fund.

If in the future she decides to run again for federal office and wins a seat, Gray would be entitled to restart the pension clock, but would have to reimburse the pension plan the amount she previously paid in.

Retired NDP MP Richard Cannings, who represented South Okanagan-West Kootenay for nine-and-a-half years is entitled to a full government pension.

It is estimated the 71-year-old Cannings will receive a pension starting at $54,000 a year, with a lifetime payout to age 90 of $1.2 million.

The 110 Members of Parliament who either retired or went down to defeat April 28, will collect about $5 million annually with a cumulative total of about $187 million by age 90. An additional $6.6 million in severance cheques will also be written to those who failed to hit the six year threshold.

Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau receives both a severance and a pension. The severance is estimated at $104,900 while the pension, which includes both MP and Prime Minister pension, amounts to $141,000 annually or $8.4 million to age 90.

“Taxpayers shouldn’t feel too bad for the politicians who lost the election because they’ll be cashing big severance or pension cheques,” said Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the CTF.

“Thanks to past pension reforms, taxpayers will not have to shoulder as much of the burden as they used to. But there’s more work to do to make politician pay affordable for taxpayers.

“Taxpayers need to see leadership at the top and that means reforming pensions and ending the pay raises MPs take every year.”