Government pensions are missing common-sense limits

Re PM urges transparency for GGs’ expenses, Nov. 1

Current news reports detailing the out of control spending habits of former Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson surely also point to the apparently profligate spending habits of those in power as they continue to reward each other without much consideration for the taxpayers who eventually pay the bills! Consider the facts; the former GG already has a pension of some $140,000 which is almost three times the annual income of the average Canadian and yet is further rewarded by a practically limitless expense account. Retired senators from our upper house in Ottawa also receive bountiful and, to my mind, excessive retirement pensions. In Ontario, we have the current example of Premier Ford who recently rewarded one of his cronies with a plum position and agreed to pay some $325,000 which is $75,000 more than his predecessor got! Nice going, eh? What we are seeing is the elite paying their elite friends; how much longer do ordinary taxpayers have to put up with this nonsense? Surely there should be some common-sense limits to “upper stratosphere” payouts! Eric Balkind, Guelph