Karen Redman

[Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act, December 4th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Waterloo—Wellington.

Today we are speaking of a renewed Canada pension plan. I consider it an honour to have the opportunity to address the House on this very important piece of legislation.

A renewed Canada pension plan is one of the pillars in a national pension plan and it is has been a priority of this government from the beginning. Now, as announced in the Speech from the Throne, the government has introduced legislation to implement the proposed changes to the Canada pension plan to ensure Canada's pension plan is sustainable into the 21st century and for future generations.

I would like to point out to the House that the Canada pension plan concerns Canadians of all ages and in all walks of life.

National consultations that preceded these proposed changes showed that the Canada pension plan concerns not only seniors but Canada's youth. This government is a government that listens to youth. That is why the government called on young people to take part in the consultations that preceded the development of these proposals. Beyond that, they were invited to specific consultation sessions held here in Ottawa.

They have made their views very clear. Our young people want to be able to count on the Canada pension plan to help them not only plan for their retirement but also to help support them after retirement. They made it clear that they want to fix the Canada pension plan, not eliminate it.

It has become clear that the current plan needs fixing. In its current condition it is not viable. Changes are needed to ensure that the Canada pension plan can meet the income security needs of Canadians now and in the future.

The chief actuary has forecast that with the current ratio of contributions to benefits paid with this current rate, the Canada pension plan's fund will be exhausted by the year 2015. Changes must be made.

Further, he has projected that to sustain the plan, contributions would have to increase from the current 5.8% of eligible earnings to 14.2% by the year 2030 if no changes are made. This is a burden too large to place on the shoulders of the next generation of income earners. Canada's young people are facing challenges of career development and meaningful employment. They do not need the additional taxation or to have to support in addition the Canada pension plan. They are planning for their retirement and they have to have contribution rates that they can afford.

The proposed changes to the Canada pension plan avoid the burden of a plan that drains the resources of our young people to sustain the retirement income of those who have already retired. Contributions must increase, of course, and have been scheduled to rise to 10.1% by the year 2016.

However, to ensure that the costs of sustaining the plan are shared fairly across all age groups, a strategy has been devised to increase the contribution rates to 9.9% by the year 2003 and then to retain that rate indefinitely. This is in sharp contrast to the long term rate of 14.2% forecasted by the chief actuary. This requirement is necessary if this plan is to be sustained.

As with the present Canada pension plan, employers and employees will continue to contribute equally. Contributions will go into an investment fund building on a larger fund which will be prudently invested and will allow stable benefits in the future.

The fund will be managed at arm's length from the government and managed to ensure a maximum rate of return consistent with the security of the contributor's investment.

Through freezing the year's basic exemption, reforming future benefits paid and providing new investment and management methods, the proposed contribution rates add up to a sustainable plan for the future and the future of our young.

Persons begin contributing to the Canada pension plan when they reach the age of 18 as long as their earnings are above the year's basic exemption. Freezing the year's basic exemption at its current level of $3,500 means that now more low income earners will be able to contribute to the Canada pension plan, increasing their eligibility for future benefits.

Another tough choice was to sustain an affordable and equitable plan. We had to curtail the growth of paid benefit expenditures. Once again, following the concerns Canadians had expressed during consultation, the proposed changes ensure fair treatment across all age groups.

The new benefit provisions will not affect current benefit recipients, nor will the changes affect disability or survivor benefits of anyone who is currently receiving them.

The impact of the changes will be shared among future retirees, future survivors and future recipients of disability benefits. A new formula is proposed for calculating average yearly earnings for pensionable purposes.

Average earnings for pension purposes will be updated based on the average of five years of the year's maximum pensionable earnings instead of three. There are also some limited proposed changes to Canada pension plan provisions such as disability and survivor benefits.

That brings me to two points that I would like to emphasize which I think are often forgotten when discussing the Canada pension plan. Providing disability and survivor benefits, the Canada pension plan is more than just a retirement pension scheme. It may also be seen as a partial insurance.

For example, Canada pension plan provides survivor benefits to widowed spouses and disability benefits to contributors with severe and prolonged disability. Furthermore, the plan provides child benefits to the dependent children of deceased or disabled contributors. These facts should be kept in mind when considering changes or, more to the point, when contemplating replacing the plan, which has been suggested by some critics.

A second related point to the Canada pension plan is that it was not designed and should never be considered to be the sole or primary source of retirement income. Its original goal was and continues to be to provide 25% of earnings up to the average wage of Canadians. This principle also extends to the survivor and disability benefits under the plan.

By all means, Canadians and particularly young Canadians should be encouraged to invest as much as they can in alternative retirement income plans such as registered retirement savings plans and to consider extra insurance for death or disability.

The Canada pension plan was introduced because it was demonstrated that Canadians, particularly those at the lower end of the earning scale, cannot save for their retirement and therefore run the risk of spending their senior years in poverty. For many it has become that they cannot afford to make investments.

The Canada pension plan pools both resources and risks. Since the plan includes virtually all Canadian income earners under its umbrella, the pool is much larger than any private plan.

It is clear that the government's measures to renew and revitalize the Canada pension plan are based on the expressed wishes of the people of Canada, in partnership with most of the provinces.

The renewed plan will be fairer, more affordable and sustainable. The new Canada pension plan will provide a reliable, secure basis for retirement planning for Canadians of all walks of life well into the future.

That is what Canadians want. That is what young Canadians have told us they want. That is what the government has provided.

[Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act, December 1st, 1997]

Madam Speaker, I would like to express why I am so supportive of the government's Bill C-2.

It is a demonstration that we are willing to restore Canada's faith in its pension plan. We are dealing with this pension plan in a businesslike manner. It is one of the things that we hear more and more lately: The community is asking the government to operate as a business.

There were extensive hearings in partnership with the provinces from April 1996 to June. It was a David Walker committee. The reforms that this government is suggesting reflect the wishes of those people who were consulted.

I have heard hon. members opposite talk about a contribution to the Canada pension plan as a job-killing payroll tax. When I consult with the small business people in my area, they say that contributions to the Canada pension plan are merely the costs of doing business and that if your bottom line indicates you can hire more people, you will.

The Canada pension plan has aspects of it that I think demonstrate the kind of country Canada is. We have insurance benefits. We have disability pension and survivor benefits. They, too, reflect the kind of character that we heard Canada wanted in its pension plan.

The Canada pension plan is not a wealth redistribution plan. It is a plan that will be there for all Canadians. That is why I feel that it will restore the Canadian belief that a pension plan will be there for our children and our grandchildren.

I would like to speak to Group 6. Motion No. 11 speaks about deleting the new contribution schedule rate. One of the things that the reform to the Canada pension is doing is establishing a sustainable rate that Canadians can rely on. The suggestion that we do not deal with the increases both on the part of the employer and the employee would put the sustainability of the Canada pension plan at risk. That is the very issue that this bill addresses.

The suggestion by the hon. member opposite that we not raise the contribution rates would mean that the plan would be bankrupt by the year 2015. The Canada pension plan has an unfunded liability that these reforms will deal with, again in a businesslike manner.

Motion No. 13 by the member opposite talks about removing the year's basic exemption and freezing it. The year's basic exemption is the portion of earnings on which contributors do not pay premiums but receive benefits. Under the proposed changes, the year's basic exemption will continue at its current level of $3,500 rather than growing on the line with average wages. By freezing the year's basic exemption at $3,500, more and more very low earning workers will be eligible to contribute to CPP and receive benefits from the plan.

Earlier the member opposite talked about a very compelling letter by a constituent whose husband works six days a week. I believe there was real angst in that letter. Those kinds of people do not have the kind of money that they can contribute to the super RRSP plans that have been suggested by the Reform. That is why it is fundamental that the Canada pension plan be there for all Canadians in their retirement.

Motion No. 22 speaks about deleting the requirement for increased contribution rates to cover the cost for new or increased benefits. When we had hearings with the provinces and Canadians in the communities we visited across Canada, one thing we heard about was the fact that they did not want current recipients to be impacted and they wanted it to be there, to be sustainable.

Of the 9.9% that we will go to and stay with, 4.3% goes to pension contribution, 1.7% would go to the insurance component. Again I would underline that that is something Canadians said that they wanted to see in their Canada pension plan. .1% goes to administration, which is a very low percentage when you look at private pension plans and how they are administered, and 3.8% would go to the unfunded liability, which is the very point this government needs to wrestle with in order that this plan be sustainable.

This is the first step of many. We are going to look at track 2 in dealing with other issues that we heard Canadians were concerned with. Bill C-2 is a step forward and something that all Canadians need for their future.

[Taxation, December 1st, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Secretary of State for International Financial Institutions.

Canada made some structural changes a decade ago to our income tax system and we have taken some steps in our previous budgets. Can the secretary of state tell us whether income tax reform is on the government's agenda?

[Climate Change, November 27th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Environment.

A couple of weeks ago the minister met with provincial ministers to discuss Canada's approach for the International Cconference on Climate Change.

My question is twofold: Why is it so important to have the provinces on side to act on climate change and what kind of consensus building role will Canada play in the Kyoto negotiations?

[International Trade, November 20th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Parliamentary Secretary to Minister for International Trade.

Last week I had the opportunity to participate in the business women's trade mission to Washington which involved 120 participants from across the nation.

What action is the government taking following this trade mission to ensure that women are meaningful participants in the export industry of Canada?

[Canada Career Week, November 7th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I want to add my voice of praise and support for Canada Career Week 1997. This annual event is a reminder to young people and their parents of the importance of preparing today for the careers of tomorrow.

Both the challenges and opportunities posed by the new knowledge based economy demand that extra efforts are made to equip Canadian youth with the skills and knowledge that they will need to succeed.

A top priority of the Government of Canada is to provide young people with the information and assistance they require to make informed career choices. The programs and projects sponsored under the government's youth employment strategy are helping hundreds of thousands of young Canadians achieve their employment goals.

This year during Canada Career Week, the Government of Canada in co-operation with community partners participated in a series of activities, from career fairs in communities across the country to the production of new career information products. These activities will help Canada's teenagers and young adults make a successful transition from school to work.

[Klaus Woerner, November 3rd, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, today the governor general will be naming the national entrepreneur of the year. Mr. Klaus Woerner, the president of ATS, a firm in my riding of Kitchener Centre, has been designated as one of the finalists for this national award.

Beginning in a small shop with only two other employees in 1978, Mr. Woerner's business has expanded to employ over 2,500 employees with operations in three continents and sales in all.

Mr. Woerner's success mirrors that of many business persons in the Waterloo region, one of the most dynamic economic regions in Canada.

The award presented today also reflects the tremendous achievements of the Canadian economy in the past four years. The future promises to be even brighter yet.

[Human Resources, October 24th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources Development.

Following the release of the report of the task force on persons with disabilities the government has repeated on a number of occasions that helping persons with disabilities is a priority.

What concrete measures is the government taking to ensure that persons with disabilities can be full participants in Canadian society?

[Teachers, October 6th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, it is with pleasure that I rise today to recognize world teachers day which was celebrated yesterday.

The United Nations Educational, Science and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, has designated October 5 as world teachers day to honour the teaching profession.

I think I speak for all of us here when I say that each of us has had at least one teacher, whether primary or at the secondary level, who made a lasting impression on us.

Many of us have teachers in our families and know first hand the commitment in time and energy they put into their jobs. Teaching is not a job that is left at school. For most teachers it reaches into their lives through after school activities, volunteering as sports coaches, band leaders, drama coaches and social group co-ordinators. All these things together are what provide the best educational and developmental opportunities for our children.

Let us give a hand for the teachers across Canada and around the world for the work they do.

[Hybrid Turkeys, September 29th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow I will have pleasure of attending the facilities expansion celebration of Hybrid Turkeys in Kitchener.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome to Canada Henk Bakker, the chief operating officer of Hybrid Turkeys' parent company, Nutreco, from the Netherlands.

He, together with Hybrid's company president Paul Jeenes, will celebrate the completion of their recent expansion. Hybrid Turkeys is Canada's only primary breeder of turkeys, one of only three worldwide, exporting over $15 million in large white turkey breeding stock to over 40 countries.

I would like to recognize the contribution of Hybrid Turkeys to Kitchener. Through its expansion and building of new facilities, including a new production hatchery, new administration offices and a new diagnostics lab, its investments have created long term jobs and will have a sustained, positive economic impact on the Kitchener area.

This is the kind of success story that comes through the co-operation and partnership of business and government to the benefit of the communities involved.