Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has paid out nearly $7 million to political staffers who have left their jobs over the past two years.

What's wrong with this story? Not what many commentators suggest.

It's not that "extra" money is being slipped to favorites (although that seems to be true). It's that the payments are discretionary.

As a guideline, on severance, a payment of one month for each year is appropriate. But political staffers get half that ... unless their boss tops it up.

Political staffers should get the same deal everyone else in the country gets and what they are entitled to should not be at the whim of their political masters -- that's what's wrong here!


Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has paid out nearly $7 million to political staffers who have left their jobs over the past two years.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/12/09/12089946-sun.html


The amount of "separation pay" that was doled out at the discretion of cabinet ministers is more than twice the amount of "severance pay" the Conservatives were obliged to pay departing political aides under government guidelines.

In a response to a written question tabled in the House of Commons, Treasury Board president Vic Toews revealed that between Oct. 19, 2007, and Oct. 19, 2009, the government handed out $2.01 million to departing aides in severance pay and $4.9 million in separation pay.
The government didn't say how many people received payouts.

Under the government's guidelines for ministers' offices, political staffers are entitled to two weeks of severance pay for each year of service -- regardless of whether they resigned, were laid off or dismissed.

EXTRA SEVERANCE

Those who had previously worked for a member of Parliament or for the public service could be entitled to an extra week of severance pay for each year of service in those roles.

However, cabinet ministers also have the discretion to pay departing staffers separation pay of up to four months salary on top of their severance pay.

For example, if a senior political staffer paid $100,000 a year served for two years, they would be entitled to $7,692 in severance pay but could also pocket up to $30,769 in separation pay.

NDP finance critic Thomas Mulcair, who served as a provincial cabinet minister in Quebec, described the $7-million payout to the Conservative staffers as "an outrage" and an "orgy with public money."