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WINNIPEG — Former Manitoba politicians who retired or were defeated in the 2023 election received more than $400,000 in severance and transition benefits in the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
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The Legislature's report said the largest recipient was former Prime Minister Heather Stefanson, who left her seat in the Legislature last spring and received $96,000.
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Politicians who leave or lose their seats are entitled to severance pay or transition payments according to a formula set out in provincial law.
They receive a monthly salary for each year they work, for a minimum of three months and a maximum of 12 months.
That means Stefanson, who served in the Legislature for 23 years, is entitled to the same severance pay as someone who served 12 years.
The money is partly aimed at helping politicians transition to new careers, often after sudden election defeats.
The money is also available to politicians who voluntarily step down to run for federal office, such as Grant Jackson, a Progressive Conservative from western Manitoba who received $2,000 in the fiscal year that ended this March.
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Jackson resigned his seat that same month and was elected to the House of Commons a month later in the Brandon-Souris race.
The money can be taken out in a lump sum or distributed in biweekly installments, so some politicians who lost the 2023 election continued to receive payments in 2024.
John Gerrard, the former Liberal leader who served from 1999 to 2023, received $50,000 in the 2023-24 financial year and $52,000 in the 2024-25 financial year, annual reports show.
Progressive Conservatives Reg Helver, who represented Brandon West, and Ian Wishart, who held the Portage la Prairie seat, also raised more than $100,000 each in two fiscal years as longtime members, records show.
The total amount of severance and transition money paid out in the 2024-25 financial year was less than one-third of the $1.5 million handed out the previous year, causing many politicians to resign before the election or lose their seats when voters chose the New Democrats after seven years of Progressive Conservative governments.
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