Mr. St-Michel, I am happy to see you again, as well as Ms. Blanchard and Mr. Fréchette. It is always a pleasure to receive you. Mr. Langlois, Mr. Beaudoin and Mr. Hamilton, welcome to the committee and thank you for being here this afternoon.
Mr. Chairman, when my colleagues were introducing Bill C-290, I said that the NDP would support it, but I would nevertheless like to congratulate Mr. Fréchette, in particular. I was here when he made his presentation. He begged us not to engage in partisan politics with this bill and to understand that we are talking about human beings.
I think that is the most important part of our job, as members of Parliament—looking after human beings. I am anxious to see what the Conservatives will do. For a year and a half, lengthy consultations have been underway. My colleague, Mr. Menzies, crisscrossed the country in all directions—and more than once—because he is part of consultations on pensions that are going on at the same time. But the only answer we have heard from Minister Flaherty thus far is: “It's complicated”. That is all he has been capable of saying on this. But it is not that complicated, even for him; he is capable of understanding the issue. The Conservatives are just trying to provoke a federal-provincial squabble, which does, or does not, involve the Bloc and Quebec.
This bill simply aims to help human beings who worked all their lives and who have every right to be helped by the federal Parliament in an area that falls within its jurisdiction.
We can assure you of our support, but I am really anxious to see what the MP for Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup will do when the time comes to vote on this. I promise you, Mr. Fréchette, that I will call you personally to tell you how Mr. Généreux voted on this important bill.