Elections Act changes mean more MPs could qualify for a pension

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A tweak to the Elections Act the Liberals introduced this week could allow for about 80 MPs to qualify for a House of Commons pension.

Minister Dominic LeBlanc unveiled a suite of changes to the Elections Act on Wednesday, including expanded days for advance voting and an easier process for mail-in ballots, but it would also move the current proposed fixed election day from Oct. 20 to Oct. 27, 2025.

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The extra week would move the election away from Diwali, a Hindu religious festival starting on Oct. 20 and lasting several days, as well as municipal elections in Alberta on Oct. 20, although the Liberal government would have still been free to call an election for before that day.

LeBlanc said overall the bill was about strengthening democracy.

“Our government believes that a strong democracy begins with enabling all Canadians to freely exercise their fundamental right to choose their representatives and we’ll always be there to defend that right,” he said.

The one-week delay has a significant impact on MP pensions, however.

MPs receive a pension, but in order to be vested in the plan they must have at least six years of service. Any MP elected in 2019 would need to have reached that six-year mark if the election was held on Oct. 20, 2025, but will have reached that cut-off on Oct. 27, the new proposed date.

The LIberals lost seats in the 2019 election, as they moved from a majority to the first of now two minority governments. As a result the primary beneficiary of this change would be Conservative MPs, 32 of whom won their seats for the first time in 2019.

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The second largest number of MPs to benefit are Liberals, with 22 MPs who would qualify under the proposed change. The NDP have six MPs elected in 2019, and the Bloc Québécois have 20.

Leblanc’s spokesperson, Jean-Sébastien Comeau, said the change to the election day is not about pensions.

“The amendments to the Canada Elections Act that we introduced yesterday are aimed…