As a Postmedia News story noted on the weekend,
Former MPs Preston Manning, Lee Morrison and Werner Schmidt are believed to be the only three original Reformers, from the class of 52 Reform MPs elected in 1993, who not only stuck to their commitment to opt out of what they said was a gold-plated pension plan, but won’t receive any parliamentary pension whatsoever.
…Prime Minister Stephen Harper also kept his word and chose not to buy back the time of his initial stint as an MP from 1993 to 1997, but has served long enough to now qualify for a sizeable pension for his time as MP and prime minister.
Harper may not be alone … other original Reformers also hung on long enough to recoup any losses after the Liberals changed the pension rules in 2000, “forcing” them to join the plan.
So big surprise eh? Politicians, it turns out, can be self-serving and dishonorable when it comes to helping themselves to the big trough of public money they discover when they get to Ottawa. No news there.
No, but the 1992 Reform group wasn’t just any pack of rookie MPs. This was the big wave from the West, the ones who were going to change the way things were done, who were going to show by example that elected officials could be honest, above-board and resistant to the siren call of self-interest. But in the end, other than a handful, they couldn’t resist. It was just too enticing to ease off a bit on their principles and buy into the Ottawa way of life.
As the Postmedia story notes, the decision to stick to their word cost each of the three former MPs hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost pension benefits. None says they lose any sleep over it, though it evidently irks that their former comrades lacked the convictions to stick to their word.
“These are all individual decisions and I’m certainly not prepared to commend myself or do anything otherwise to someone who didn’t. I made a promise and stuck to it, that’s it,” said Schmidt, who’s now 80 and retired in Edmonton.
“You say what you’re going to do, well then you better do it, and that’s what I did.”
Morrison offers a similar view, and is upset that today’s MPs, having approved a plan by Mr. Harper under which they will actually have to contribute significantly to their own benefits, structured the arrangement so it starts in 2015, giving them time to cash out on the old plan before the new one takes effect.
“The old guard can still make out like bandits. I don’t think that’s right,” he said. “It really does bug me that having filled the basket for themselves, they’re now putting in a reasonable scheme for people in the future, and they are not going to feel even the slightest bit of pain, and I don’t think that’s kosher, really I don’t.”
Of course it’s not kosher. It never was. But the fact that only three of 52 MPs from a reforming wave had the character to stand by their beliefs tells you how few elected representatives in Ottawa are bothered by such concerns.
Original Article
Source: national post
Author: Kelly McParland
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