The Conservative MP for the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo riding says she will be donating her salary increase this year.

Cathy McLeod says it’s inappropriate that MPs get a two-per-cent raise tomorrow while some businesses are going under because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’ll absolutely be donating,” McLeod says. “I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for the Kamloops Food Bank, I know they do amazing work. I know right now there are so many families that are being challenged, and they’re being challenged (the food bank). So certainly that’s a cause near and dear to my heart, but there’s also many others.”

For all 338 MPs, the average raise is more than $3,700.

“I don’t know anyone that supports it, I was surprised it wasn’t in the legislation,” McLeod says, referencing emergency legislation enacted for economic support because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, in B.C., a wage hike for MLAs that was supposed to happen tomorrow is being put off for at least 12 months.

That decision was made today by the all-party Legislative Management Committee, and the raise would’ve amounted to an extra $2,500 per year on average for all 87 members.

McLeod also disagrees with the federal carbon tax going up by 33 per cent tomorrow, from $20 to $30 per tonne, which will affect Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick.

“There shouldn’t be any taxes going up right now, so absolutely I don’t believe that the carbon tax should be going up. And especially, we know that the ones most impacted by this change are our farmers, our rural communities, our remote communities.”

B.C.’s carbon tax increase scheduled for tomorrow is being put on hold until further notice. Although, at $40 per tonne, the tax here is already significantly higher than the federal government’s version. In B.C., it was supposed to rise from $40 to $45.