Federal politicians are busy making room in their wallets. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says the Members of Parliament are giving themselves a pay raise, a week from now. the raise is automatic every year in spite of, as the CTF says, 700 thousand private-sector jobs having vanished last year. For the record, backbench MPs make $182 thousand a year right now. The Prime Minister hauls in $365,200 dollars already. Then there’s the tens of thousands of dollars in extra pay for ministerial roles.

CTF says the pay hike will add $3,200 more for MPs and senators, $47 hundred more for ministers, and the leader of the opposition, and an additional $6,400 for the Prime Minister’s wallet.

The Federation is asking people to contact their MP and ask if they support the raise while hundreds of thousands of Canadians have lost their jobs.