CALGARY, AB: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation hosted a virtual 75^th birthday party for Mike Duffy, to shine a light on the big costs of the Senate’s pension and budget.

“Duffy will get almost four thousand dollars a month for the rest of his life thanks to his taxpayer-funded pension,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director of the CTF. “It’s good that some progress was made on pension reform a few years ago, but senators are still receiving very generous benefits, especially when the vast majority of taxpayers working outside of government don’t have a workplace pension.”

The CTF hosted the virtual birthday party because Duffy turned 75 years old today, which means he must retire from the Senate. The CTF estimates that Duffy will receive an annual pension of about $47,000. If Duffy continues to receive the pension to age 90, then he will have received a total of about $700,000 over those 15 years. The vast majority of Canadians working outside of government are not covered by a workplace pension.

When including the salary he received during his time in the Senate, Duffy will have pocketed about $2 million from taxpayers, assuming he receives the pension for 15 years.

The Senate’s budget for 2021 is $115.6 million, which represents an 11 per cent increase over five years.

The base salary of a senator is now $160,800. Senators have received two pay raises during the pandemic, with the base salary growing by $6,900.

“Do we really need to spend north of $100 million for an unelected and unaccountable Senate?” said Terrazzano. “A hair cut to the Senate’s budget probably won’t keep too many Canadians up at night. This year taxpayers are wishing for a lower tax bill and a little less Senate when we blow out the candles.”

You can view the virtual birthday party here.