More than 100 MPs who won’t be returning to Parliament — including those dedicated to the break-up of Canada — will receive millions in pension and severance payments from Canadian taxpayers.

Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe, 63, who lost his Laurier-St. Marie seat Monday, will rake in $140,765 a year.

Twenty-three-year veteran Liberal MP Joe Volpe, 63, who lost his seat in the riding of Eglinton-Lawrence, will receive a pension of $120,392 a year for the rest of his life. His party’s former leader, Michael Ignatieff, doesn’t qualify for a pension, but will walk away with a healthy severance of $116,624.

The 113 MPs who were defeated or did not run again in the May 2 election will collect $4.9 million in pension payments this year alone, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

“Most Canadians have no private pension plans,” said CTF national research director Derek Fildebrandt, who crunched the numbers. “Most Canadians save for their retirement by putting money into an RRSP or Tax-Free Savings Account and are subject to the ups and downs of the market. MPs have no such risk. They get a guaranteed payout no matter what happens.

“For people responsible for overseeing the performance of our economy, they are remarkably divorced from its realities.”

And then there are the double-dippers who receive pensions from other sources besides the federal government. Among those is Ujjal Dosanjh, who was premier of British Columbia from 2000 to 2001.

First elected federally in 2004, the 63-year-old Dosanjh will receive $40,197 a year from Ottawa.

From his 9½ years in provincial politics, he walked away with an annual pension of about $35,000.

Dosanjh said an MP’s pension is “absolutely deserved.”

He said it’s one way of keeping the “best and brightest” if they know at the end their career “they are not going to face absolute poverty.”

Dosanjh said when he started in B.C. provincial politics in 1991 he was making $250,000 a year as a lawyer. He gave that up to make $61,000 annually.

“You don’t go into politics to get rich,” he said.

For many senior’s organizations, talk of MP pension makes them see red.

John Gatens, first vice president of the National Pensioners and Senior Citizens Federation, called the pensions “obscene.”

“We’re angry because they enjoy tremendous pensions, certainly pensions that the average senior citizen does not enjoy,” he said. “For most of us, we don’t see that kind of money, ever.”

Gatens said his organization, which annually lobbies the federal government for more equitable pensions, doesn’t begrudge people a comfortable retirement.

But when people who work their whole lives to qualify for pensions lower than those awarded to MPs who were in office for a mere six years, something needs to be fixed, he said.

“They recognize the need for their own pensions after only six years in office, but they don’t recognize the need to increase pensions for the poor in this country,” Gatens said.

“It’s grossly unfair.”

Only about 30 per cent of Canadians have employer-sponsored pensions, and only some of those are defined-benefit plans. According to Service Canada, the average annual pension administered by the Canadian Pension Plan is just over $6,000.

The CTF’s Fildebrandt noted that 18 former MPs are to receive more than $100,000 a year in pension income.

They include Liberal MP and former Speaker of the House Peter Milliken (Kingston and the Islands), who walks away from politics after 23 years with a pension worth $147,000 a year.

MPs qualify for a pension if they keep their seat for six years. They are also entitled to a lump-sum severance payment equivalent to 50 per cent of annual salary if they leave office before hitting age 55. Even those who don’t last six years in office are still eligible for the severance payment.

Forty-three Bloc MPs were shown the door Monday by Quebec voters, but they will get a good chunk of change to blunt the blow to their political egos. For those who have not been around for six years and do not qualify for a pension, they will get $78,866 just for showing up.

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In the end, Bloc MPs who qualified for lifetime pensions will cost Canadian taxpayers roughly $38 million.

Who will get what

Eighteen MPs who lost their seats or who opted not to run for office in the May 2 federal election will leave Ottawa with annual pensions worth more than $100,000, courtesy of Canadian taxpayers. Here are some of the more lucrative retirements MPs will enjoy, as identified by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation:

$147,316: Peter Milliken, former Speaker of the House and Liberal MP

Milliken, 64, was first elected in 1988. If he lives to age 80, he will have collected nearly $3 million from his MP pension.

$102,308: Keith Martin, former Liberal MP

Martin, 50, was first elected in 1993 as a member of the Reform Party and later crossed the floor to run for the Liberals in 2004. His lifetime pension, valued at $3,880,546 to age 80, is the highest of those federal politicians who retired or lost their seats in the election.

$140,765: Gilles Duceppe, former Bloc Québécois leader

Duceppe, 63, spent nearly 15 years in Ottawa fighting to break up Canada. If he reaches age 80, he will collect a cumulative pension of $2,905,486.

$120,392: Joe Volpe, former Liberal MP

Volpe, 63, was first elected to Parliament in 1988 and has maxed out his MP portion of his pension. If he lives to age 80, he will get $2,484,977.

$119,320: Chuck Strahl, former minister of transport and Conservative MP

Strahl, 54, retired this year and will collect a lifetime pension of $3,305,820 if he lives to age 80.

$111,837: Jay Hill, former Conservative MP and government House leader

Hill, 58, retired last year, and qualifies for a lifetime pension of $3,312,601.

Kenyon Wallace

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