OTTAWA - Depending on where you're standing it's either the ultimate in freedom 55 - or "a ripoff on a massive scale."
It's MP pensions, and a bombshell report released Wednesday by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation points to just how rich those pensions really are.
"It's probably the best funded pension plan on Earth right now," said CTF federal director Gregory Thomas.
The report - estimates based on calculations and figures from the Treasury Board and Parliament's chief actuary - breaks down figures behind the "platinum-plated" pensions, which MPs can collect after six years of service starting at age 55.
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The CTF estimates MPs who would qualify for pensions in 2015 - the next election year - would collect an average of $54,693 annually.
Canadians with savings left battered and bruised in the economic downturn may also be surprised to learn pensions for parliamentarians are sheltered from sour financial winds.
The funds aren't invested in financial markets, and the 10.4% annual rate of return is set by the federal cabinet. Compare that to the Canada Pension Plan, with brought in 6.5% rate of return over the last 10 years.
It doesn't come cheap for the taxpayer. According to the report, in 2009-10, Canadians contributed $102.7 million into the plan.
MP pensions were established by former prime minister Louis St. Laurent in 1952 in a bid to attract ambitious people into public service.
For Thomas, 60 years later it's become "snouts in the pension trough."
He's calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to lead the charge on pension reform, suggesting MPs contribute instead to a pooled registered pension plan, a new savings vehicle being created by the government.
Sara MacIntyre, a spokeswoman for Harper, said on Wednesday: "All options will be considered as we review spending right across the government."
In a separate report, the C.D. Howe Institute echoed the CTF's call to reform the plan and set up a properly funded pooled registered or target-benefit plan in its place.
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