Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This motion is extremely brief and I hope clear. You'll see that the motion in question does not contain the usual reference, “and that we report to the House.” I know that the motion will raise questions with regard to our committee's mandate, if we ever report to the House. That's what we recently experienced with the parliamentary budget director.
To the extent that this is a matter that does not specifically fall within the mandate of a parliamentary committee, I'm taking the liberty of suggesting that we study it. I am moving that the committee hold a meeting with representatives from terminated employees of Nortel Networks and retired employees of Nortel Networks regarding the company's practices toward severance packages and pension payments. This is the theme that we're beginning to see increasingly among businesses in these times of crisis that we're experiencing in Canada. I would find it unfortunate if we decided for reasons of internal economy not to consider this matter.
I'm going to briefly outline the situation. Currently, the most senior managers at Nortel, as was recently the case of the Canada Pension Plan, are granting themselves enormous bonuses, whereas employees cannot even get their severance pay because the company is headed toward bankruptcy. Creditors may only receive 33¢ on the dollar in the event of bankruptcy. If we set that amount at 31¢ on the dollar, all employees would receive their severance pay. This has an enormous impact on the organization of their severance pay, together with their eligibility or non-eligibility for employment insurance. This is the kind of problem we may well be facing.
I've spoken with my colleagues on the other side, in particular Mr. Kramp, who informed me that there are several thousands of former Nortel employees and retirees in his riding, and I know this affects a large number of ridings. We can at least hear those employees and examine the situation. If we subsequently decide that this has to be reported to the House and that it requires specific legislative amendments, we'll then have to take another step and determine which committee will act, if any.
For the moment, I'm not convinced that this can't all be done here. That's why our motion makes no reference to a report to the House.