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Open Letter to Wayne Stetski
By Bob Ede
Have you ever noticed politicians regardless of party seem to have, at least, one thing in common? If they were birds, it would be called, ‘feathering their own nest’. Nothing wrong with that . . . if you are a bird.
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Dear Mr. Stetski,
The CBC recently did a news story about MPs collecting government pensions.
Your name was mentioned along with 35 other MPs, including Tom Mulcair, who collect a MP salary and a government pension. The article labeled the MPs ‘double-dippers’.
Obviously, there is nothing illegal with what you and the other MPs are doing. My issue is; I find it disconcerting and wonder how MPs, with access to such generous pensions and wages, can relate to people less fortunate.
When the federal election took place I saw your competitor and our Conservative federal MP David Wilks, as a longtime bureaucrat. He seemed out of touch with the people and issues of his constituency. I hoped for better for the area.
Canada is turning into a country of pension ‘have’s’ and ‘have not’s’. I have been self-employed almost my entire career. The money that people, who work in the private sector put away for retirement savings is subject to the markets and interest rates. Sure, there may be some tax benefits at the time, but the money would be taxed excessively, if taken out while still working, regardless of being over 65.
Government workers receive bountiful defined payment benefit pension plans, while most people in the private sector, if they are able to put money away for retirement at all, receive what the market dictates (between one and three per cent). It is an unsustainable system and one that will have to change. It is impossible for government to continue to ask people, without pensions, to pay for the generous defined benefits bureaucrats are used to.
In closing, I was disappointed to see your name mentioned in the article, not because you are acting beyond the rules of law or parliament by collecting a generous government pension and a six figure salary, but because it makes me question how you can relate to the majority of your constituents by doing so.
* Bob Ede has been blinded by smoke. Not from the forest fires, but by the continued exhaust being blown up his ass by Members of Parliament. He can be reached at [email protected]
