Most Canadians oppose the government delaying the next federal election by a week. The delay would mean that 80 MPs would then qualify for taxpayer-funded pensions.
A Leger study commissioned by the Canadian Taxpayer Federation, a non-profit government watchdog, found that 63% of Canadians oppose the government delaying the election by an extra week for Diwali, a Hindu holiday.
The fixed general election date is set to Oct. 20, 2025, which happens to be the first day of the five to six-day celebration of the Hindu Festival of Light.
Critics of the motion, such as Franco Terrazzano, the federal director of the CTF, said the delay could cost Canadian taxpayers up to $120 million.
“Delaying the election by one week means 80 additional MPs could be eligible for a taxpayer-funded pension. That could cost up to $120 million in pensions over their lifetime. The annual starting pension ranges from $32,000 to $49,000,” Terrazzano told True North. “Some MPs could serve for just six years and receive a pension of more than $2 million over their lifetime.”
Leger asked 1,536 Canadians aged 18 or older in mid-June whether they supported or opposed the delay that would cost taxpayers tens of millions.
The survey found that only 6% of Canadians strongly supported the move to delay the general election to accommodate Diwali celebrations. While nearly half said they strongly opposed the idea.
When survey data was adjusted to remove the 21% of Canadians who said they were unsure or didn’t know if they opposed the delay or not, 80% of Canadians opposed it. Three in five Canadians strongly opposed moving the election date.
“The poll is clear: the vast majority of Canadians don’t want the government delaying the election so dozens of extra MPs can take pensions,” Terrazzano said. “All MPs should listen to Canadians and oppose this pension trickery and election delay.”
Out of those who had opinions on the issue, “Black, Indigenous and People of Color” (BIPOC) Canadians were more likely to support moving the election date with 37% of BIPOC Canadians supporting it, though 63% of the same demographic opposed the motion.
Conversely, after discounting those with no opinion from the survey, 85% of Caucasian Canadians were opposed to the delay in general. 64% of Caucasians strongly opposed it.
This comes as an increasing number of Canadians feel that the cost of living in the country continues to worsen.
“Canadians are struggling, so MPs shouldn’t rig the system so more politicians can collect lucrative, taxpayer-funded pensions,” he said. “If politicians don’t want to look shady, then they shouldn’t do shady things like this.”