Politicians who stop living like Canadians can never understand their priorities

Canada’s politicians appear to forget the times we’re living in.

With nearly half of Canadians saying they’re $200 away from not being able to pay their bills, politicians should be especially cognizant of the struggles voters are going through. Instead, many seem to be living the high life, oblivious to the realities of everyday Canadians.

Just the latest example comes from Ontario. At least four prominent Progressive Conservative MPPs who live in the Greater Toronto Area were caught billing upwards of $10,000 each for downtown Toronto hotel rooms.

Despite the fact that it is common for the average taxpayer to have to drive to work from the suburbs every day, if not farther, these PC MPPs took it upon themselves to bill taxpayers for hotel rooms instead of making the drive home after work.

Stan Cho, the former minister of tourism, culture and gaming, billed taxpayers more than $16,000 over the course of three years for stays at Toronto hotels despite living within the city of Toronto.

The three others—Charmaine Williams, Nina Tangri and Hardeep Grewal—expensed similar amounts and represent ridings in Mississauga.

To Cho’s credit, he resigned from cabinet and reimbursed taxpayers. It is unclear whether the other MPPs have done the same. Premier Doug Ford called the actions of his MPPs “unacceptable,” but these MPPs had been billing taxpayers for years. The practice only came under scrutiny after they were caught.

The problem isn’t just hotel rooms. It’s a mindset that’s becoming far too common among politicians.

Another example came last week from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. The organization reported that Prime Minister Mark Carney spent nearly $160,000 on airplane food during a single trip last November.

Carney travelled with a 55-member entourage, meaning each person on the plane spent roughly $2,850 on airplane food.

Former prime minister Justin Trudeau also routinely incurred airplane food expenses well above $100,000 and famously stayed in a $6,000-a-night hotel room while attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Canadians are hurting right now. Living costs are soaring, with the cost of food for a family of four, for example, up by $1,000 this year over last. The average Canadian doesn’t want to hear about disconnected politicians living the high life at taxpayers’ expense.

Plus, Canada’s politicians keep taking big pay raises every year while Canadians’ wages remain stagnant. The average backbench MP in Ottawa received a 4.2 per cent raise this year, bringing total pay to nearly $220,000, more than three times the national average.

Many argue that, if you want to attract impressive people to run for office, you need to offer high salaries and major perks. But perhaps that’s the problem. Perhaps we have too many people who run for office who are too disconnected from the lives of everyday Canadians.

Here’s a proposal: it’s time for politicians to live like Canadians.

I’m not saying wages should be cut in half or politicians should starve on airplanes. Rather, politicians’ wages should rise in line with the wages of Canadians. Every expensed meal, including those on airplanes, should be subject to a reasonable per diem. If politicians want to live the high life, they should pay the difference themselves. And while we’re at it, their pensions should look more like ours. They shouldn’t be gold-plated.

This is how Canadians live. If politicians aren’t happy with it, perhaps they should find another profession.

If we want politicians to make policies that are in line with what we as voters want, perhaps it’s time to ensure that they live the kind of lives that we live.

Unfortunately, too few politicians know what it’s like these days to worry about what your son or daughter puts in the cart at the grocery store or how much gas is going to cost. Maybe it’s time that we took steps in that direction.

Canadians increasingly believe politicians are too disconnected from the people they represent. These latest scandals suggest they’re right. It’s time to make sure politicians understand the lives that we live, and the first step is putting an end to these kinds of excesses.

Dr. Jay Goldberg is a political scientist, a fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, and a columnist whose work is syndicated in the Toronto Sun and Winnipeg Sun. His policy analysis focuses on fiscal, trade, and energy issues.