First of all, I would like to congratulate Jay Hill on his upcoming retirement. With all due respect to federal politicians, I find the following statistics quite amazing and somewhat disturbing. I was a public school teacher for 35 years and now receive a pension at less than three-tenths of what Mr. Hill is about to receive with half the number of years in the public service.
Mr. Hill's annual pension of $142,637, if he had been a teacher-this amount would represent 2 per cent for each year of service, multiplied by 17 years, multiplied by his average salary based on his best five years.
In other words, the $142,637 would be only 34 per cent of his salary, which would have given him $419,520.68 per year. Based on a 50 hour work week 40 weeks a year, this represents an hourly wage of $209.76 or more than 26 times the current minimum wage in British Columbia.
I would like to know how the pensions for federal members of parliament are calculated. It seems that either the contributions to their plan must be extremely high compared to many pension plans or the government is subsidizing what most would consider to be a much higher than average level of compensation for the number of years given in service.
Any information anyone can give me on how MP's pensions are calculated, or anyone who knows of a website where this information is available and can provide it, I would be most appreciative.
I sincerely hope Mr. Hill enjoys his well deserved retirement and wish him all the best.
Bill Watt
Prince George
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