The current laws allow companies not to fund pension plans, and everyone accepts that. We wish that wasn't the case, but that's the current situation. We know from the start that there is a shortage of money in the pension scheme. When there is a bankruptcy, it's hard to tell pensioners that, under current laws, it's okay not to pay them what they are owed.
It's important to understand that a defined benefit plan guarantees an annuity, from retirement until death. The benefits will even go to the surviving spouse. As my colleague from the Canadian Labour Congress said, it is a deferred wage. When collective agreements are negotiated, choices are made. For example, we invest less in salary and more in retirement.
The retirees or the workers who will become retirees have no idea that, 10 or 15 years later, they will not get everything they were promised. This situation cannot be tolerated. At the very least, they must be given more of a chance and elevated to the rank of creditors, so that dramas like the ones we have experienced do not occur again.