Governor General pockets $9,500 pay raise to bring 2023 salary to over $350,000 (2023)

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While most Canadians dealt with crushing cost-of-living increases as part of the ongoing affordability crisis, Canada’s Governor General will pocket a $9,500 pay raise in 2023.

This latest bump in pay is part of a $48,800 salary increase in take-home pay since 2019, which saw remuneration for Canada’s national representative of the Crown increase by 16 per cent over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The details, unearthed by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, show the Governor General’s salary increasing from $302,800 annually in 2019 to this year’s rate of $351,600.

That represents a $48,800 increase over the past five years.

TheGovernor General’s Act, which determines pay and benefits for the viceregal, established a base salary of $270,602 a little over a decade ago.

That pay rate is subject to annual, legislated increases set by a complicated formula, which involves multiplying the previous year’s salary by “the lesser of 107 per cent and the percentage that the industrial aggregate for the first adjustment year is of the industrial aggregate for the second adjustment year.”

Canada’s industrial aggregate is a measure of average earnings by the nation’s labour force.

Former astronaut Julie Payette served as governor general from 2017 until her resignation in January 2021.

She, like all other former governors general, are entitled to benefits including an expense account and annual pension (in Payette’s case $149,484 annually).

Diplomat and former broadcaster Mary Simon became Canada’s 30th Governor General in July 2021.

“Can the government say with a straight face that taxpayers are getting an extra $48,800 in value from the governor general?” said Canadian Taxpayers Federation Federal Director Franco Terrazzano.

“The government continues to rubber stamp pay raises while Canadians are wondering if they can afford a jug of milk.”

When reached for comment, Privy Council Office spokesperson Pierre-Alain Bujold confirmed the Governor General’s salary is determined by legislation.

Bloc Québécois MP and Privy Council critic Rhéal Fortin told the National Post that Canada faces a reckoning on its ties to the Crown if spending isn’t controlled.

Bloc Québécois MP Rhéal Fortin

“If Justin Trudeau’s Liberals persist in not questioning our ties with the monarchy, like New Zealand or Australia are doing and as demanded by the population with a large majority, it’s all Quebecers and all Canadians who nevertheless continue to foot the bill,” he said.

“We need to cut our ties with the monarchy and, by the Governor General’s own admission, the time has come to have ‘a very big conversation about how we would do it and what kind of government we’re looking for.'”

Last week, the National Post reported that Rideau Hall had billed taxpayers over $88,000 in clothing expenses since 2017 — leading Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet to call the office a costly “circus.”

Governor general appointees are permitted to expense up to $130,000 in clothing over their five-year terms — a benefit capped at $60,000 in their first year of office, eventually dropping to $10,000 in their mandate’s final year.

That number was reduced in 2021 from $200,000 per five-year mandate.

Since her appointment, current Governor General Mary Simon garnered criticism over two costly overseas trips during her time in office.

Simon’s first overseas visit as Governor General — a state visit to Germany to attend the 2021 Frankfurt Book Fair — cost over $700,000 for the four-day trip.

That excursion — which saw Simon and 31 guests fly to Germany onboard an RCAF CC-150 Polaris transport plane — included spending over $50,000 on hosting receptions and banquets, $45,000 on lodging, and over $103,000 on in-flight meals.

That was followed by Simon’s infamous week-long visit to Expo 2020 in Dubai last March, which cost taxpayers over $1.3 million — including in-flight catering costs of over $93,000.

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