moved for leave to introduce Bill C-388, an act to amend the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 (protection of the assets).
Mr. Speaker, there is just so much work to do and so many things that need to be done in this Parliament that I am taking this opportunity to present another issue of critical importance to working people all over the country.
This bill would amend the Pension Benefits Standards Act in such a way that there would be mandatory equal representation on the board of trustees of pensions so that the representation should allow for pension beneficiaries and pension plan membership. This is currently not mandatory across the country.
It would also limit the amount that employers are allowed to underfund pension plans. Currently almost an emergency across the country is the situation of underfunded pension plans. We believe that this practice has to stop and we believe that Canadians want us to take action to limit this so that in the event of a bankruptcy we do not want to find that a pension plan is 50% underfunded.
It would also prevent members and beneficiaries from being limited from trading in the employer's shares and stocks unless the directors and officers of the company are similarly limited. In other words, no more of the practice of the officers and board members of a company being able to trade in the shares of that company and the beneficiaries of the plan being barred from doing so.
The final thing that this particular bill to amend the Pension Benefits Standards Act would do is protect members and beneficiaries by providing that they must--
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)