OTTAWA — The governor general rang in 2025 with a nice bump in her paycheque.
The annual salary for Canada’s vice-regal is increasing by $15,200 this year, bringing the position’s annual salary to $378.000.
“Canadians are paying so much money for a largely symbolic role and on top of this huge salary the governor general gets to live in a taxpayer-funded mansion, a platinum pension, an expense account for life, a clothing budget, paid dry cleaning and lavish travel expenses,” said Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), who uncovered the data.
The CTF’s numbers were confirmed with the Privy Council Office.
“The government needs to rein in the governor general’s platinum pay and perks, which should have been scaled back a long time ago,” Terrazzano added.
This will be current Governor General Mary Simon’s fourth pay raise since taking the job in 2021 — she now makes $49,300 more now than she did upon entering Rideau Hall. Last year’s raise was worth $11,200.
In 2019, the governor general earned $302,800 annually.
According to Statistics Canada, the average annual wage for Canadians in 2024 was around $70,000.
Rules concerning pay raises are outlined in the Governor General’s Act.
Established as $270,602 as of Jan. 1 2014, the governor general’s salary subject to annual raises based on a complicated formula that multiplies the previous year’s salary by, as outlined in legislation, “the lesser of 107% and the percentage that the industrial aggregate for the first adjustment year is of the industrial aggregate for the second adjustment year.”
Published by Statistics Canada, the country’s industrial aggregate is a measure of average earnings by most positions in Canada’s labour force — excluding agriculture, fishing, the military and religious organizations.
“We need a culture change in Ottawa and that starts with ending the automatic pay raises every year for the governor general and politicians,” Terrazzano said.
“Why does the government think the governor general deserves an extra $1,200 a month from taxpayers?”
Rideau Hall’s spending is the subject of frequent scrutiny.
Since 2017, current GG Simon and predecessor Julie Payette expensed $88,000 for 200 items of clothing, ranging from ceremonial dresses and evening wear to shoes, sweaters and T-shirts.
Governors general have a $130,000 clothing allowance — they can spend up to $60,000 during their first year in office, with that allowance reducing to $10,000 by the end of their five-year mandates.
Travel expenses for Simon’s first full year in office amounted to nearly $3 million for four overseas trips visits and 17 in-Canada excursions.
That includes Simon’s infamous 2022 two-week Middle East trip where she, her husband and 29 passengers racked up nearly $100,000 in inflight catering costs and invoices for $500 for redacted quantities of lemons and limes.
That same year, $71,000 was spent for luxury limousine service during a four-day official visit to Reykjavik, Iceland — despite most events taking place a short walk from Simon’s hotel in a city rated as among the world’s most walkable.
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