N.B. Conservative MP goes to court to fight his own pay raise

N.B. Conservative MP goes to court to fight his own pay raise

Mike Dawson says he should be able to refuse $8,800 increase when many Canadians struggle with high costs

A New Brunswick Conservative MP is going to court in his bid to force the House of Commons to let him refuse an $8,800 per year salary increase.

Miramichi-Grand Lake MP Mike Dawson was in Fredericton Monday morning to file an affidavit supporting his application for judicial review.

He wants the court to quash an April 20, 2026 decision by the Board of Internal Economy, an all-party committee of MPs that makes administrative decision for the House, that concluded it did not have the jurisdiction to grant Dawson’s request.

“I’m just an ordinary Canadian that is trying to do the right thing by Canadians," Dawson told CBC News outside the courthouse. "It seems to be pushed to the side, the way they rejected [it], that I couldn’t reject the pay raise."

The base salary for members of parliament was $208,900 last year and rose April 1 to $217,700, according to Olivier Duhaime, a spokesperson for House Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia.

Under federal legislation, MP pay raises are indexed to a formula based on private-sector salary hikes.

New Brunswick MP not giving up fight against pay raise

But Dawson says it’s wrong to accept an $8,800 raise when many Canadians are struggling with the cost of living.

“The way things are going now with Canada, the way the situation is economically, Canadians are struggling,” he said.

“I just think the right thing to do was to reject the pay raise until things get better for Canadians.”

Dawson first said he wanted to refuse the increase in February.

CBC News reported at the time that many of his colleagues in the federal Conservative caucus weren’t happy with the gesture and heckled him when he tried to explain himself in a caucus meeting.

House of Commons clerk Eric Janse told Dawson in April that the Board of Internal Economy concluded that it could not allow exceptions to the legislation on pay increases.

“To change the regime would require a change legislation,” Janse wrote in an April 20 letter included in the affidavit.

Dawson had asked the board to hold an open hearing about his request.

Janse suggested that Dawson “offset” the raise by donating the amount to charity or remitting it to the government by writing a cheque.

Dawson said Monday he has been donating the raise.

“It’s not the point,” he said.

“I should be allowed to reject the pay raise. If I was working doing drywall for a drywall company, working for somebody else, I’d be allowed to reject the pay raise.”

Duhaime said the Speaker’s office does not comment on correspondence between MPs and the clerk of the House.

A spokesperson for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre did not respond to a request for comment from CBC News.

Conservative caucus chair Scott Reid did not respond either.

Dawson said it should be up to individual MPs to decide whether they want the raise or not, adding he was not suggesting all of them refuse it.

But he also said if Prime Minister Mark Carney were to introduce legislation freezing MP salaries, “I think it would go over great with the public.”

Dawson’s affidavit filed Monday includes 14 letters from Canadians across the country praising his stance, which he says represent just a sample of thousands he has received.

“Kudos to you,” a Saskatchewan resident wrote.

“You are definitely my hero,” said another supporter from Alberta.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a fiscally conservative lobby group, said Monday it would apply to intervene in Dawson’s application.

“Canadians are overwhelmingly on Dawson’s side and the CTF is going to make sure their voice is heard in court,” federal director Franco Terrazzano said in a news release.

Jacques Poitras has been CBC's provincial affairs reporter in New Brunswick since 2000. He grew up in Moncton and covered Parliament in Ottawa for the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal. He has reported on every New Brunswick election since 1995 and won awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association, the National Newspaper Awards and Amnesty International. He is also the author of five non-fiction books about New Brunswick politics and history.