OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is releasing a Leger poll showing four out of five Canadians oppose the pay hike members of Parliament are taking on April 1. At the same time, taxpayers are calling on Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to stop the carbon tax and alcohol tax hikes that are also scheduled to go up on April 1. 

“MPs are taking higher pay the same day they take more money from Canadians and that’s wrong,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director of the CTF. “At the very least, Freeland must cancel the MP pay and tax hikes in the budget.”

Today, the CTF released polling data from Leger showing four out of five Canadians oppose the upcoming MP pay raise.

The CTF estimates this year’s pay raise will range from an extra $5,100 for a backbench MP to an extra $10,200 for the prime minister, based on contract data published by the federal government. This will be the fourth MP pay raise since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The carbon tax will also increase on April 1 to 14 cents per litre of gasoline and 12 cents per cubic metre of natural gas. 

Meanwhile, the alcohol escalator tax automatically increases federal excise taxes on beer, wine and spirits every year by the rate of inflation. Alcohol taxes will increase by 6.3 per cent on April 1. Last week, MPspassed a motion calling on the “government to cancel its April 1, 2023 tax increase on beer, wine and spirits.”

“The government shouldn’t be making life more expensive with tax hikes when Canadians can’t afford gas or groceries,” Terrazzano said. “MPs don’t deserve pay raises when their tax hikes make life unaffordable.”

You can find the Leger poll results here.