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World's Highest Paid Politicians Include Stephen Harper

Filed under: Employment & Careers, Weird & Wonderful

Stephen HarperThe leaders of the free world are, by definition, busy people. Running some of the biggest economies on the planet hasn't been easy of late, but tough economic times also mean that taxpayers have little patience for politicians awarding themselves with pay raises and other perks. Yet they continue to do so. Aussies have reason to be annoyed, with their PM getting her second raise in just three months, making her the best paid leader of a Group of 20 nation with a salary 25% higher than Barack Obama's and twice as large as David Cameron's.

While politician's salaries haven't been an issue in Canada lately, MP pensions have come up for criticism of late. This week the Canadian Taxpayers Federation released a report that suggested that MP pensions are obscenely generous when compared to those of average Canadians, who contribute $24 for every $1 contributed by MPs themselves.

We wondered who topped the list of highest paid politicians, and discovered that our own prime minister is in the top 10. Have a look and see who's on top, who's in the middle, and whether these salaries make any sense at all. At least our own PM's salary is in line with our economy. That can't be said about the Kenyan leader, who takes home about 240 times as much as the average worker's salary.


SLIDESHOW: HIGHEST PAID POLITICIANS


1. Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore2.Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of Hong Kong3. Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia4. Raila Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya5. Barack Obama, President of the United States6. John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand7. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of CanadaYoshihiko Noda, Prime Minister of Japan

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lamduck

Again, you simply cannot blame "one" person. There are a number of congress people who have not tried to COOPERATE/PARTICIPATE in discussions, or simply chosen NOT TO REPORT to work for which they are paid to do, and voting is not accurate as a whole for the congress count. Check the latest articles/pictures of them running down the stairs early in order to not vote on bills needing to be discussed/passed for ALL of the american people. This is not the fault of "one" person. Environmental/climate changes have been a real problem for industry causing closings, layoffs, etc. Again, not the fault of "one" person.

September 22 2012 at 12:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
raverhoeckx

With Obama running the US economy into the ground, he should be returning his salary to the American people for performance not accomplished. At least Harper is leading canada's economic ship to success and accomplishments.
The latest update shows Canada 5 th in the world for economic excellence, while the US under Obumer is in 18 th position and falling.

September 19 2012 at 9:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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