Bill C-331 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (pension plans)

This enactment amends the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act to ensure that unfunded pension plan liabilities are accorded priority of claims in the event of bankruptcy proceedings.

Opposition Motion—Canada and Quebec Pension Plans

[Françoise Boivin, NDP, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to rise in this House to take part in the debate on the motion moved by the hon. member for Victoria. The motion invites the House to call on the government to commit to supporting an immediate phase-in of increases to basic public pension benefits under the Canada and Quebec pension plans at the upcoming meeting of federal, provincial and territorial finance ministers.

In my opinion, this is probably one of the most important federal-provincial-territorial conferences. It will be held not far from my home, at Meech Lake, a name that may not sit very well with some people. However, for once, if something positive comes from this meeting, the lake could be known as the home of a major vision.

Go ahead and tell me that I believe in Santa Claus. I hope that members of this House, of all parties, will support this motion. No particular numbers are attached to it, though some of our Conservative colleagues do not like that. They have tried to tie us in financial knots. However, that is not what the motion is asking for. It is about an intent. It is about sitting down with our provincial and territorial counterparts in an attempt to solve a major problem.

I have been here all day for all the debates. I have heard comments to the effect that we in the NDP are out of touch, that we cannot count, that the sky is falling and that the country will go bankrupt.

I would like to get back to the real issue to point out clearly what we are asking for and whom it could help. In other situations, I often say something that applies to this one even more. We are talking about the Canada pension plan and the Québec pension plan, not about private schemes. We are talking about basic schemes that, let us admit it, provide peanuts. It is true that it is expensive to add any amount at all, because a lot of people are involved. However, a lot of people depend on these schemes for their livelihood. I challenge anyone in this House to live on that kind of income for many years.

We must sit down and deal with the crux of the issue: why we are here and why the government exists. A government certainly exists to encourage national prosperity, but it also exists to make sure that everyone can benefit from that and that no one is left behind in any respect.

The time is right to ask ourselves those questions. I am sure I am not alone in going to my riding and being constantly asked, not only to attend activities to meet my constituents, but also to take part in collections of non-perishable food items.

Last Monday, I was at the Buffet des continents. I had actually invited all my colleagues in the House to go. Tony Priftakis and Mélanie Gauthier welcomed people to their restaurant for free in exchange for three cans of food to help the most disadvantaged. We collected a record amount of food to help Moisson Outaouais, a food bank that supplies all the food banks in my region. It is located across the river, close to this great city of Ottawa, the capital of Canada, where we still find some pockets of extreme poverty, which include many of our seniors.

Letting these people live in poverty is a reflection of our society as a whole. I do not mean to sound socialist. I come from a business background. I had a business as a lawyer, working with other lawyers. I love life, but I do not like to see children not eating three times a day or seniors who are too embarrassed and humiliated to go to food banks and ask for food.

Last Monday evening, entire families came, because they were able to find three small cans to exchange for a sumptuous free meal.

For them, that was their Christmas dinner. That was Monday. On Thursday morning, everyone here may have been stopped on a few street corners, because it was the media fundraising drive. On this occasion, all the media in the region get together and raise money for food banks and soup kitchens so that seniors can survive and have a decent holiday season.

I was on a street corner with Sister Denise Blouin. She told me that people needed this help all year long, not just during the holidays. The needs are growing. On Thursday, I will see this first-hand. I will be serving meals with the people at the Saint-François soup kitchen. Every year I do this, it breaks my heart.

As a society, we are failing miserably. We are being questioned over $2.25 or $3.25 by the members on the government benches. They are being driven around in limousines, but they are afraid to bring our seniors who need that amount up to a decent standard of living. I find that appalling. Sometimes, I think we forget why we are here.

The Notre-Dame Market had its Christmas party on Saturday. Once again, there were many seniors there. There was a food drive, and a meal was provided. Everyone was gathered together in one place with the simple hope of having a meal. That is absolutely incredible. When one-third of the population cannot survive on the Canada pension plan, we know that something serious is happening.

People go to the Centre de pédiatrie sociale de Gatineau because they cannot go to a hospital. There is so much suffering. They mayor's breakfast took place on Sunday in Gatineau, and Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin honoured a 23-year tradition. A reporter asked me if I thought it was important to be there. I said yes, but that I hoped that someday we would not need that kind of event anymore.

I find it appalling that we are celebrating the 23rd year of an event that is designed to collect Christmas hampers for people who do not have enough to eat. Meanwhile, we are talking about economics, which is very important, I agree. However, the motion moved by my colleague calls on us to work with our provincial and territorial counterparts to address a pressing issue. No one is asking that it be fixed by tomorrow morning. The government needs to stop fearmongering and making people think that we will bankrupt the country. That is not the issue.

There needs to be a firm commitment from federal, provincial and territorial partners to make this a viable system so that people no longer live below the poverty line, as is becoming increasingly common.

I would like to bring to the members' attention the fact that poverty among seniors affects mostly women. Many single women who are 65 or older live on a meagre income. Once again, we need to go and speak to these people.

On November 15, we met with representatives of the Federal Superannuates National Association. They talked about their concern that the government is doing all kinds of things to scare them because it is unilaterally making changes to legislation and agreements without consulting them.

Peoples' pensions are not protected when companies that have received all kinds of major subsidies from the government go bankrupt. Who pays the price? The people who worked their entire lives and contributed to those pension plans.

I was very proud when my colleague introduced Bill C-331 to protect them. These kinds of measures will allow people to have a decent life and to keep the economy going, as my colleague for Parkdale—High Park said.

Thus, the Conservatives should not pass really inappropriate measures, although it might not be such a bad thing. Perhaps there would be someone else like Solange Denis, who said in 1986, if I am not mistaken, “Goodbye Charlie Brown.”

Canada Pension Plan

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in this place to speak to Bill C-326, An Act to amend the Canada Pension Plan and the Old Age Security Act (biweekly payment of benefits).

The bill seeks to amend these acts to allow for CPP and OAS benefits to be paid biweekly. It is worthy noting that this change would apply only at the request of persons receiving the benefits. In other words, it would be a matter of choice for the seniors and retirees.

Members will no doubt know this is actually the third time the bill has been brought before the House, the first time being in 2008.

Although the bill's intent is laudable, the NDP has not seen a call for such action from Canadians for such a change. Having said that, because it is voluntary, the NDP will support it.

Regarding changes to CPP, OAS and GIS, I and my fellow New Democrats have been campaigning since 2009 for much stronger action than what is contained in Bill C-326. Members will know, from reports to the House, following my appointment as pensions critic for the NDP in 2009, that I hosted two round tables of pension experts that February. These experts concluded at the time that the CPP was fine, fully funded for 75 years. As of late, the government has actually agreed with that statement. Their additional conclusion was that OAS likewise was sustainable for the long term. These panellists reached these conclusions even after considering the impact of retiring baby boomers and what that impact would be on OAS.

Following the advice that was given us from these round tables, my staff and I turned our attention to the broader question of retirement security for all Canadians.

In June of 2009, my opposition day motion on pensions raised in the House of Commons for the first time the urgent need for an increase to GIS to raise some 300,000 seniors out of poverty.

The motion also highlighted the NDP plan for a phased-in increase of the core assets of the CPP until it reached the capacity to double its benefits that it provided to Canadians.

The motion also included a proposal for a national pension insurance fund paid for by plan holders to protect workers when companies went out of business.

Finally included in the motion was a proposal to change the ability for workers to use the legislation governing CCAA protection and actual bankruptcy proceedings under the provisions of the BIA whenever a company went into bankruptcy. This would have given workers and retirees status as creditors in order to access the company's final assets.

I am pleased to remind the House that our opposition day motion at that time was passed unanimously, with all parties in agreement, including the Conservatives.

The fact that the Conservatives so heartily supported our road map for changing Canada's retirement security program gave us hope that we would see these changes in short order. Sadly, that has not been the case. In spite of taking such an enlightened decision to support the NDP motion and in effect endorsing our plan, the Conservative government has not delivered on that promise.

During last May's election campaign, Jack Layton, our leader at the time, was clear that the NDP would follow through on our promise to raise the GIS significantly. In fact, it was the very first proposal in our platform, as was increasing the CPP. New Democrats had done a cost analysis of our plan and were prepared to move forward delivering for Canadians.

While New Democrats were being very clear on our plan, and were clear during the election campaign with respect to seniors, pensioners and those people who were planning their retirements, what did the Conservatives and the Prime Minister have to say on the retirement security of seniors during that election campaign? Did the Prime Minister or his party once raise the fact that they were planning an increase to the eligibility of OAS and GIS from 65 to 67? Of course they did not. They knew their own base of voters would oppose this unneeded attack on the poorest of the poor.

What will our next steps be? Although Bill C-326 offers a very modest change for Canadian citizens and seniors, we will not stand in the way of this particular bill. We also want to emphatically reiterate to Canadians that the NDP, after forming the next majority government in 2015, will rescind any motion or law that has changed the eligibility for OAS or GIS from age 65 to 67.

In the meantime, all New Democrats in this House will continue to press the Conservative government to honour its 2009 vote on our opposition day motion. We will call on the Conservatives and all members of this House to work with the NDP, in consultation with the provinces and territories, to bring forward the measures that are necessary to establish a phased-in doubling of Canada pension plan benefits.

We are looking forward as well to working constructively with the government, using my Bill C-331, An Act to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (pension plans), as a template for changing the CCAA and the BIA to protect retirees' pensions during CCAA or bankruptcy proceedings. I do believe that this would bring a significant change to employers' understanding regarding pension assets. They do not realize at this point in time that these are deferred wages and that they should belong solely to the workers. That change in view or ideology, however we want to propose it, is a hurdle that we have to get over as Canadians in dealing with the assets of companies that happen to have the misfortune of going under.

To the member for Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, I want to say that the New Democrats will be supporting Bill C-326 as it moves forward through the House. We are also looking forward to all of the advances that we can make together to better the lives of Canadian seniors and retirees.

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on that very topic I have introduced Bill C-331 which would move the assets of a pension plan ahead of unsecured debt in bankruptcy, insolvency and CCAA. We had the situation of Nortel and a number of pulp and paper mills across the country that closed. In some instances, the assets of the pension plan were used like a separate pool to pay down debt when in fact they belonged to workers. In addressing that, we have to change the priority in bankruptcy. In fairness, I have spoken to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance about this very issue, and what I understand from the government side is that it is going to take a fair look at this.

Pensions

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Mr. Speaker, over the last five years, many workers across Canada have seen their pensions drastically reduced because their employers went out of business. Yesterday, I tabled Bill C-331, my pension protection act, which is designed to give pensions priority at the time of bankruptcies. At the present time pensioners must wait behind junk bondholders and bank investments. This is done before they can get their pensions, their deferred wages. This is clearly wrong.

Will the government work with New Democrats to give pensioners the protection they need?

Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-331, An Act to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (pension plans).

Mr. Speaker, in Canada today when a company goes out of business and the employees' pension plan is wound up, under Canada's outdated bankruptcy laws, pensioners must wait behind every imaginable financial and corporate interest before getting paid out from the company's remaining assets because, according to Canadian law, pensions are considered unsecured debt. As such, pensions are paid out at the same time as every other kind of unsecured debt. In effect, it puts pensioners at the end of the line.

The practical consequence of being at the back of the line means that pensions are too often tapped into as just another asset pool to be used to pay off other creditors. Canadians say that is wrong. They say that any retiree who has worked for generations for a company should have greater access to the company assets than vulture capitalists and bond dealers.

New Democrats believe it is time for the situation to be corrected. Let us be clear. Pensions are not just some kind of a fringe benefit. Workplace pensions are nothing less than unpaid deferred wages. That is why I am introducing my pension protection bill today.

Once enacted, the bill would move pensions further up the line of creditors to be paid out during bankruptcy proceedings. Amending Canada's bankruptcy laws to provide greater protection for pensioners is an issue of considerable importance to the NDP.

In the last election, this particular promise was on the front page of our platform. For New Democrats this question is very straightforward. How many more victims will there be before we fix our outdated bankruptcy laws? We know the stories of Nortel, Fraser Paper and AbitibiBowater and the dozens of mills that closed in Quebec and in British Columbia.

One thing is sure, and that is the current government has not been prepared to act, has not been prepared to extend the pensions, the common sense protection Canadians deserve. New Democrats are ready, and thus we are introducing this bill today.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)