Subhead:Former drywaller and contractor MP Mike Dawson calls the routine April 1 raise ‘distasteful’ as Canadians struggle under Prime Minister Mark Carney’s watch.#
Conservative MP Mike Dawson from Miramichi-Grand Lake has officially declined the upcoming 4.2% parliamentary pay hike set for April 1, in a refreshing display of integrity amid Canada’s crushing cost-of-living crisis.
Conservative MP Mike Dawson is turning down the April 1 MP pay raise.
What a hero. pic.twitter.com/ppQ8NPNw6l
— Franco Terrazzano (@franco_nomics) February 10, 2026
That’s nearly $10,000 extra per MP, while everyday Canadians scrape by with stagnant wages and skyrocketing bills. As a former drywaller and contractor, Dawson gets it: “I cannot in good conscience accept the pay increase… which every Member of Parliament is set to receive,” he wrote.
The letter, addressed to House of Common’s Clerk Eric Janse, called the automatic raise “distasteful… while the working man (and woman) of this country hasn’t seen a decent raise in decades.”
