Evidence of meeting #45 for Finance in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was subamendment.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Steeve Lavoie Liberal Beauport—Limoilou, QC
I think this isn't the first time he has been reminded of this, but I want to remind our colleague not to repeat himself. He's talking about comparing countries. He has repeated that about three times now. I want us to get back to the debate and not repeat the information several times.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Karina Gould
Thank you, Mr. Lavoie.
Mr. Ho, we've unfortunately had to repeat several times that people not be repetitive. Could you just remember the Standing Orders and try to present some new arguments?
Thank you.
Conservative
Vincent Ho Conservative Richmond Hill South, ON
Thank you for the reminder.
It's different, because I'm talking about the comparability, about how it's not just picking up.... Let's say you have, listed on the same stock exchange, two companies that are under the same accounting standards and are headquartered in the same jurisdiction. Then you can compare two companies. If you pick up the financial statements of TD Bank and BMO, for example, you can get a pretty comparable analysis, just because they're governed by the same rules. However, pension plans of different countries are not going to be governed by the same rules, so if a pensioner, a Canadian worker, were to pick up those documents, they would not be able to just compare....
I'm talking not just about the importance of comparing, which is one point, but also about the normalization of the comparability, which is the second point. Therefore, I'm not repeating myself. Those are two different arguments, and I think they're important issues that are worth discussing. Of course, Liberals don't like to talk about comparison, because we bring up the fact that we're the only country in the G20 that is in a Liberal, homegrown, made-in-Ottawa, made-by-a-Liberal recession.
Conservative
Vincent Ho Conservative Richmond Hill South, ON
See? I get a point of order every time I bring that up.
Liberal
Emma Harrison Liberal Peterborough, ON
I know I've only been here for a bit, but this is getting incredibly repetitive, and I think Canadians as a whole would be really disappointed that their tax dollars are going to this waste of time.
Liberal
Conservative
Conservative
Vincent Ho Conservative Richmond Hill South, ON
—$70-billion deficit that your government wants to run? I mean, this is quite—
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Karina Gould
No, this is not a debate, Mr. Ho. You have the floor on the subamendment. Please stick to the topic.
Conservative
Vincent Ho Conservative Richmond Hill South, ON
Personal attacks, like whoa. Going back to this.... I'm sorry, but could you put that in the record? She has something to say.
Conservative
Vincent Ho Conservative Richmond Hill South, ON
It was through the translation, the microphone. She just said something.
Liberal
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Karina Gould
Mr. Ho, please stick to the subamendment. I'd like to maintain order in this committee. Thank you.
Conservative
Vincent Ho Conservative Richmond Hill South, ON
I'm trying to finish my point, and it just keeps being interrupted. The comparability between jurisdictions needs to be normalized so that the reader, the user of that information, can actually find usefulness in the information across years, across asset classes and across contribution rates. Then there's the fund's overall performance and also the statements that the pensioners themselves would receive based on their own individual position.
These are all very important aspects, because we are talking about a paradigm change when it comes to some of the assumptions in the pension industry. There could be lower returns, different levels of inflation and different interest rates, and people could be living longer—with longer life expectancies—working longer and taking a phased retirement rather than just retiring at whatever age that may be. Of course, there are higher costs, because, for example, food costs are not factored in the CPI, and the inflation numbers that might be referenced are outpacing the rate of inflation. Of course, retirees who depend on the CPP still need to—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Karina Gould
Mr. Ho, can you please stick to the subamendment that has been proposed?
