I call it the Great Canadian Job Gap.

Politicians and CEOs treating themselves to fat-cat pay hikes and gold-plated parachutes -- while average Canadians struggle to get pay hikes that keep pace with inflation.

Meanwhile, many aren't lucky enough to have a pension, which is going the way of the dinosaur.

And some can't even find a job, like Gary, an IT expert who's upgraded his skills with course after course, but has been pounding the pavement for two and a half years with no luck.

Fred, a seasoned sales expert, with outside and telesales experience, has been out of work for seven months.

They were among hundreds who flocked to the National Job Fair and Training Expo in downtown Toronto yesterday in hope of finding gainful employment.

To these job seekers, it's frustrating to hear reports that there's a growing labour shortage in this country, with one business lobby group complaining Canadian employers are trying to fill 295,000 job vacancies, with 70% of the jobs sitting vacant for four months or more.

"I'm in sales, why can't I find a job?," Fred retorted to my comment that sales reps top the list of hard-to-find jobs not only in Canada, but in the U.S., Japan and Hong Kong, according to a Manpower Employment Outlook report.

These job fair goers were also infuriated to learn that while they're forced to cash in RRSP savings to keep food on the table -- politicians, who should solving this job gap problem, are treating themselves to bigger paycheques, which in Ottawa is sweetening gold-plated pension plans.

The lucky ones are those who opt not to run in the next federal election and will cash in on a windfall in pension money, after the Liberals hiked MP pay from $68,425 in 2001 to more than $150,000 a year within the next month.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's salary goes to $295,400, plus he and MPs got a 50% hike in their gas allowance -- while Ottawa refuses to cut high gas taxes for struggling families. For goodness sake, at least axe the GST, a tax on tax at the pumps.

But no. So now, thanks to the Liberal pay hike some retiring MPs are laughing all the way to the bank.

Like Nunavut Liberal MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell, who turns 50 at the end of this year. She gets to collect $50,400 a year when she turns 55, after serving 10 years in the Commons. If Liberal MP Tom Wappel, a 57-year-old Toronto lawyer, keeps his promise and steps down, he immediately collects a pension of $113,2000 a year.

Fact is even though these gold-plated pensions were once scaled back, they're still a "Cadillac" model, says Catherine Swift, CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

Today, taxpayers fork out $4 for every $1 invested by a MP, who gets to collect a pension at age 55, as long as he or she spent six years in the Commons. A cost-of-living index kicks in at age 60.

Bottomline is if job seekers want to join the $100,000 a year club, they'd be well advised to seek political office or a government job.

Here's why: At Queen's Park, Dalton McGuinty's LIberals dished out a 25% pay hike, so that the Premier now earns $198,620, up from $159,166, and a MPP gets almost $111,000.

Thanks to "sunshine" laws, taxpayers also were shocked to hear that the number of civil servants and workers at crown corporations, hospitals and universities earning $100,000 or more jumped by 6,000 to 34,000.

Hydro saw the biggest fat-cat salaries, while golden parachutes worth millions have been paid out to hydro and lottery brass.

Now go to City Hall: There Mayor David Miller dished out 9% pay hikes, so he now earns $160,000 and councillors $95,000. Of course, they're all trying to keep up with corporate Canada, where Canada's top 100 executives rake in anywhere from $2.8 million to $74.8 million a year.

And what's the pay for an average working stiff? According to Statistics Canada, $39,000 a year.

Like I said, it's the Great Canadian Job Gap.

The job fair continues today at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.