Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I know everyone's going to run out and get a look at Bill C-501 to see what I tabled yesterday. I'll give you the summary quickly here.
This enactment amends the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act to ensure that unfunded pension plan liabilities are accorded the status of secure debts in the event of bankruptcy proceedings. The enactment also amends the Canada Business Corporations Act to provide an efficacious procedure by which former employees of a bankrupt corporation who were owed amounts by the corporation can proceed with claims against its directors.
That's the summary of Bill C-501. I hope everyone has a look.
Ms. Urquhart, I thank you for talking about the cost, and the cost of not acting, which you talked about earlier. This bill that I have brought forward is a reworked bill from Wayne Marston, Hamilton East--Stoney Creek, and I think it's going to be acceptable to all parties once they have a look at it. One of the reasons I brought it forward is that tens of thousands of forestry workers in my riding in northern Ontario and tens of thousands more forestry workers right across this country, as well as manufacturing workers, did not receive any severance and did not receive any of their pension or their deferred wages. That is going to be a question in a second. What is happening now is that employment insurance is running out for many of those people, and they'll soon be on the welfare rolls, so if you want to talk about the cost of not acting, that's one of the costs.
I have a question for Mr. St-Michel. One of the things you said earlier--and this is my translation, so I hope it's right--is that the employer told you that a pension is a part of your salary that we don't give you right away. I call that “deferred wages”; I think you called it “forgone wages”. I wonder if you'd like to make a few more comments on that in the small time we have left.