Francois Legault is underpaid

Last fall, the deputies of the National Assembly decided to give themselves a 30% salary increase.

The decision caused a lot of ink to be spilled as public sector employees negotiated with the government. Bad timing.

However, it must be said that MPs' salary increases are inevitable and further increases will be made in the coming years, as $130,000 in 2024 is far below many positions in the public service.

• Listen to a political conference with Yasmin Abdelfadel and Marc-Andre Leclerc QUB :

148^e rank

The titanic work of Investigation Office Let us know that Quebec Prime Minister Francois Legault is coming to 148^e Rank in the list of civil servants of Quebec with a salary of $270,120.

So, there are 147 people who are better paid than the Prime Minister. That doesn't make any sense. Genevieve Biron, Sainte-Québec's new president and CEO, will earn $652,000, or $381,880 more than Mr. Legault.

Municipalities also have general managers earning more than the prime minister, with Montreal earning $347,799.

Looking at this ranking, one wonders why anyone would want to become Premier of Quebec. With all the stress and daily criticism, you earn less than a significant number of civil servants.

Archive photo by Stevens LeBlanc

Tricky file

With the controversy surrounding the last pay raise, it's clear provincial elected officials won't be playing on the issue again until 2026.

However, as a society, if we have quality people who decide to go into the political jungle, we will not be able to pay our elected officials better.

It's all well and good to say that politicians do politics with conviction, but with all the inconveniences that come with the job, they have to pay for their sense of the world.