TORONTO -- Sweet.

Provincial politicians quitting the Ontario legislature won’t leave empty-handed.

Premier Dalton McGuinty, who’s calling it a day after 22 years in office, nine years in the top job, is entitled to collect a $313,461 severance payment.

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan and Energy Minister Chris Bentley -- who have also announced they’re packing it in before the next election -- could walk away with cheques worth $248,777.

Liberal leadership contenders former Liberal economic and development minister Sandra Pupatello, who chose not to run in 2011, and former environment minister John Wilkinson, who voters dismissed that same year, also each qualified for a $248,777 severance.

Former Tory MPP Elizabeth Witmer left her Kitchener-Waterloo office shortly after she was re-elected in 2011, sparking a byelection, was offered a $194,580 severance pay out.

Greg Sorbara, whose sudden departure from office launched a Vaughan byelection, was eligible for a $174,825 severance.

Gregory Thomas, federal/Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said the general rule of thumb in Ontario is one month’s pay for each year served, but some of these politicians are getting double that amount.

“It’s kind of rich,” Thomas said. “It sets politicians apart as a separate class of people who have a special set of rules that apply only to them. I don’t think most people in Ontario would believe that if you quit you should get severance.

“Historically, politicians didn’t get severance because it wasn’t deemed a career or a job -- it was something you did to serve the community. And we’ve gradually evolved this class of professional politicians,” Thomas said.

Ontario politicians get severance equivalent to six months pay for less than four years service, one year’s pay for more than four years and less than eight years, and 18 month’s pay for more than eight years service -- at the average of the last 36 months’ salary.

Pupatello told QMI Agency’s Christina Blizzard that even if she wins the leadership she still won’t have a seat and needs to work to live.

“I hadn’t thought about that,” she said of the severance. “Now I am thinking about it and I think I will probably do the right thing.”

Pupatello could not confirm the amount of severance she received.

Witmer could not be reached for comment.

The severance amounts calculated by QMI Agency reflect the maximum the politicians are eligible for, but individuals could opt not to take all or any of it.

When asked for comment about severances, the premier’s office said that Ontario MPPs are the only members of parliament at the provincial or federal level in Canada that do not have a pension plan.

“Currently, Ontario MPPs are leading by example to address the deficit by freezing their salaries. In fact, MPP salaries have been frozen since 2008,” a statement says. “All members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, regardless of political stripe, have been eligible for severance according to a common formula based on years of service since 1996.”

Thomas said departing Ontario politicians are still getting a better deal than others in Canada.