This is the story of a fake news item — a deliberate lie — and why it continues to spread.
The item, just a few lines in length, states that a retired Prime Minister receives $450,00 a year for life. A retired politician receives $174,000 a year for life. A house speaker receives $223,500 a year for life and a majority or minority leader receives an annual stipend of $194,400, also for life.
These figures are contrasted with the average wage paid to a soldier, at $40,000, and the average amount a pensioner receives, at $12,000 a year.
This item caught my attention when I saw it a few days ago. The discrepancy between the huge payments for retired politicians and the wages given to soldiers and pensioners is cause for concern.
The list of figures ended with the line, “I think we know where the cuts should be made.”
But the more I looked at the numbers, the more questions I had. Something didn’t seem right.
For starters, the payment given to a retired Prime Minister is a lot more than the $345,400 the Prime Minister receives while in office. There are some great pension plans, but I know of none that pay this much above one’s working wages. The other government figures also seemed questionable, especially when compared with the actual wages paid for the positions.
And some of the terms are not used in Canada.
We don’t talk about a “House Speaker” in Canada. Our term, at the federal or provincial level, is “Speaker of the House.” And terms like majority and minority leader aren’t in common use in Canada. These are terms and phrases used in the United States.
There is an American version of this document, with “President” instead of “Prime Minister.” I did a bit of digging into the American version. Again, most if not all of the numbers are nowhere close to the actual amounts paid out.
The claims made in this item were incredulous. From the start, there were reasons to question the accuracy of the information.
A few minutes of online searching would have raised red flags, even without going to verification sites such as snopes.com, hoax-slayer.com or others.
Still, despite the warning signs, this item continues to circulate.
Part of the reason this and similar fabricated statements will spread is because they reinforce an underlying belief.
The belief is that our government, at the federal or provincial level, is populated with overpaid, greedy and corrupt politicians, out of touch with the majority of Canadians. Not everyone holds this belief, but many Canadians view elected officials with suspicion.
When information is presented to reinforce such a position, it’s easy to take it at face value, without bothering to verify.
In the end, everyone loses when lies of this nature are circulated.
Dishonest or wildly inaccurate statements about elected leaders and spending decisions lead to a growing distrust of all politicians, no matter what their party affiliations.
Those spreading the misinformation lose some credibility, especially when it is easy to check the facts.
And the resulting discussions about these and other fake items or fabricated statistics shift the public’s focus away from serious policy issues and pending government decisions which should have public scrutiny.
We deserve better. We deserve reliable, accurate information.
And we all have a responsibility to check the facts before sharing statements, news reports or statistics.
John Arendt is the editor of the Summerland Review.