OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation released analysis showing the salary costs of the federal cabinet has continued to increase under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

“Taxpayers are paying for a bigger and more expensive cabinet,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director with the CTF. “The federal government has a lot of work to do to chip away at the $1 trillion debt and it should start with leadership and restraint at the top.”

Trudeau appointed 38 ministers to his cabinet yesterday. The salary cost of this cabinet is $10.8 million per year, which is about $3 million more than the cabinet Trudeau appointed in 2015. This annual calculation only considers the starting base salary for each minister and does not include any other benefit or any additional staffing costs. 

Trudeau’s current salary is $371,600 and each minister is set to receive $274,500. All members of Parliament received two raises during the pandemic. The annual salary for the prime minister is $13,800 higher than it was pre-pandemic, while ministers are receiving $10,100 more than pre-pandemic. 

“Taxpayers are struggling and the cost to pay for our federal cabinet shouldn’t be rising during the pandemic,” said Terrazzano. “Taxpayers expect to see leadership from this cabinet and that means Trudeau should be shrinking cabinet and all politicians should reverse the two pandemic pay raises.”