OTTAWA—Almost all the remaining MPs from the old Reform Party — including Stephen Harper — stand to collect over $100,000 a year in pension benefits once they retire.

Back in 1993, a group of 52 Reformers took Ottawa by storm, capturing the public attention with their stand against so-called gold-plated pensions for Members of Parliament.

At the time, they said they would refuse to collect their pensions as a way of leading by example and fighting the deficit.

But since then, according to tracking by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, most of them have quietly opted back in, including the 11 who are still in the House of Commons,

Now, as the public service suspects Ottawa is about to target the pension packages of government workers as a way to tackle the latest deficit, MPs’ own pensions are under scrutiny again.

Numbers crunched by the Taxpayers Federation lobby group show that Prime Minister Harper is in line to collect $150,244 a year if he were to retire at the end of this year, while Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl could collect more than $155,000.

THE LIST

Just 11 of the 52 Reform Party MPs elected in 1993 remain in the House of Commons, most of them now Conservative. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has calculated what their annual pension benefits would be if they retired at the end of 2010. The numbers are approximate, since details on each MP are not made public.

Jim Abbott. MP for Kootenay-Columbia, B.C.: $108.516

Diane Ablonczy, MP for Calgary Nose Hill: $126,076

Leon Benoit, MP for Vegreville-Wainwright, AB: $104,778

Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, SK : $118,668

John Cummins, MP for Delta-Richmond East, BC: $118,668

John Duncan, MP for Vancouver Island North: $80,648

Stephen Harper, MP for Calgary Southwest: $150,244

Dick Harris, MP for Cariboo-Prince George, BC: $118,668

Jay Hill, MP for Prince George-Peace River, BC: $142,637

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Keith Martin, MP for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca: $119,159

Chuck Strahl, MP for Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon: $155,733

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