Mr. Speaker, I would point out that the maintenance of the Canada pension plan will be one of the means by which people who are too ill to work, who are totally incapacitated, will be assisted. The Canada pension plan is there for those people. As modest as it is, it is there for those people at any age.
The Reform Party wanted to dismantle the Canada pension plan. We all know that. Today the Canada pension plan is there for those victims of hepatitis C who have lost their ability to work. It is there as a backstop for all of them. Reformers wanted to do away with it.
We will be voting for the NDP motion this afternoon. We support it. The vote is certainly free, as far as I am concerned, because I am perfectly content to vote for the motion.
I hope and pray there is a change taking place in the minds of the provincial and territorial governments. The responsibility rests with them to get together and to come to some decisions that will allow us to move forward on this issue.