Introduction
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The Canadian government employs military and civilian expatriates in more than 400 locations throughout the world. Canada-based personnel who serve at these posts may experience considerably different living conditions from those at home. Among these differences are the prices they may have to pay for consumer goods and services. Higher price levels, fluctuating exchange rates and inflation at the post may mean that the purchasing power of their Canadian dollar is not as great as it would be in Ottawa.
The federal government has developed a foreign service compensation system that is embodied in the Foreign Service Directives (FSD), the Military Foreign Service Instructions (MFSI) and the Technical Assistance Regulations (TARs).
One element of foreign service compensation is known as the Post Living Allowance (PLA), the level of which is regulated by what is called the Post Index (PI). Applied to salary ranges, the Post Index is intended to provide employees with the financial means to maintain a lifestyle comparable to that which would be enjoyed by similar family income earners in Ottawa. The Post Index is not designed nor intended to create incentive or inducement for service abroad.
Post Indexes are compiled and updated by the Government Allowance Indexes Section of Statistics Canada acting in a role of a neutral third party. The provisions of the FSD, including the use of the Post Index in administering the PLA, are determined by employer and employee representatives working within the National Joint Council (NJC) Foreign Service Directives Committee. At the request of this NJC Committee, Statistics Canada publishes the level of Post Indexes on its web site monthly (see: /bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?lang=eng&catno=62-013-X).
Information and explanations contained in this guide reflect determinations made by the National Joint Council. Throughout this Guide reference is made to the FSD 55 but the provisions of the MFSI Section 15 are parallel and apply equally to Canadian Forces members.
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