Royal treatment at our expense

Imagine that your employer fires you, but instead of giving you your vacation check, what he gives you looks more like an ad from Loto-Québec.

In this hypothetical scenario, he grants you a lifetime expense account, a six-figure pension, and a few million dollars to start a foundation.

If that seems crazy, this is what Julie Payette will receive at our expense after she was shown the door in the midst of a scandal, a few weeks ago.

Whether a Governor General has served his entire five-year term, or resigned within the first 24 hours of his term, he is automatically eligible for a pension of $ 150,000 per year.

And unlike your pension fund, if you have one, a former Governor General can start receiving it as soon as he leaves office, regardless of his age. It’s a safe bet that Ms. Payette has already received her first monthly check for $ 12,500.

• Listen to Renaud Brosard’s interview with Sophie Durocher on QUB Radio:

Sumptuous allowances

As if this princely pension were not enough, ex-governors general can continue to claim up to $ 206,000 per year in reimbursement of expenses from taxpayers for the rest of their lives, and even up to six months after their retirement. death.

It is thanks to these lifetime expense accounts that former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson has been able to bill more than $ 1.1 million in flights, hotel rooms, meals and office staff costs to Canadian taxpayers since. that she left her post in 2005.

It’s not as if governors general were mistreated during their tenure either. Those in this symbolic position receive an annual salary of $ 306,000. They are also provided with a 175-room official residence. This is two more rooms than the palace of the Norwegian royal family in Oslo.

As if all of this was not already more than enough, the government has a habit of giving a series of departure gifts to governors general.

This is how Adrienne Clarkson, Michaëlle Jean and David Johnston received an envelope of $ 10 million in public funds each to help them set up their respective foundations.

And even if Ms. Payette was forced to resign following allegations of psychological harassment, it seems that the Prime Minister’s office still believes it is good to leave the door open to such a gift at the expense of taxpayers, specifying that these requests are analyzed case by case.

Lower the costs

It is clear that it is not only possible, but also necessary to reduce the costs associated with this monarchical symbol. To do this, Ottawa need only observe what is being done in the provinces. While the office of the Governor General costs Canadian taxpayers approximately $ 55 million per year, the offices of the lieutenant governors cost us roughly $ 1 million per year each.

Lieutenant Governors with a reduced staff, no official palace, more reasonable remuneration and no starting gift in the millions of dollars that these provincial representatives of the monarchy generally perform their constitutional role.

And if some even see this million as too high a cost for such a remainder, it is still much less worse than the $ 55 million that we currently waste on their federal equivalent each year.

Even though they represent the monarchy, our governors general do not deserve to be treated like kings.