MPs Not Seeking Re-Election - Doing It For The Severance...?

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MPs Not Seeking Re-Election May Be Doing It For The Severance And Pension: Expert

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CP | By Stephanie Levitz, The Canadian Press

Posted: 06/22/2015 4:01 pm EDT Updated: 06/23/2015 12:59 am EDT

OTTAWA - Nearly 60 members of the just-ended 41st Parliament have decided against running again this fall.

Some moved on to provincial politics, like Conservatives Patrick Brown and Brian Jean, now leading conservative parties in Ontario and Alberta.

Others, like the NDP's Alexandrine Latendresse, who was among the young MPs from Quebec who were swept onto Parliament Hill in 2011, say the cut-and-thrust of the House of Commons has lost its appeal.

Still others say they want to spend more time with family, like Justice Minister Peter MacKay and Industry Minister James Moore, who just announced on Friday he won't run again.

Whatever their stated reasons, many political observers wonder whether money is also among them.

Departing MPs are eligible for severance and pension payments that can top six figures; recent changes to how pensions will be paid have fuelled speculation that many are getting out while the getting is good.

"I try not to be cynical; people give me a good reason and looking at MacKay and Moore in particular, that they've got young kids seems to me like a reasonable reason," said Aaron Wudrick, the federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

"But objectively speaking, there's no question that anybody who leaves now ... they will be objectively better off. "

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