Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I said yesterday in the House that I would give some examples of the effect of having the settlement allowance and VTA combined into one allowance. I've also added in the housing allowance, a list of newly-announced reductions.
The first example, Mr. Speaker, is Pond Inlet; an employee with less than five years' service, with a wife and two children under the age of 12. This person's base salary is $30,000. With one VTA, current housing allowance and settlement allowance, this employee's gross income would be $49,615.28. Mr. Speaker, under the announced system, this employee's gross income would now be $41,951.50, or a decrease, Mr. Speaker, of 15.45 per cent.
Mr. Speaker, is this the fair reduction that this government has talked about?
My second example, Mr. Speaker, is an employee in Iqaluit like myself. This employee has a family of five and has worked for the government for five years. Under the current system, if my salary was $50,000, with two VTAs based on the advanced booking fare to Montreal, plus the current housing allowance and settlement allowance, my gross income would be as follows: $50,000 salary, $5,400 housing allowance, $4,484 for the settlement allowance, $11,058.52 for the two VTAs, for a total of $70,942.52. The new package proposed, Mr. Speaker, would see my total salary package shrink by 17 per cent.
Mr. Speaker, is this equity? Is this fair? I will be asking further questions today to the honourable Minister of Finance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.