Thank you for the letter about the firefighters' pension. That's a challenge we've been trying to address for 20 years, easily.
The disparity among the firefighters, federal and elsewhere, is even greater than what you described. There's the firefighters' 44-hour workweek versus the 37.5 that most other public servants work. They end up working nearly six years longer for the same pension, yet they contribute. Therefore, I very much appreciate the letter you're sending. We're cautiously optimistic.
Certainly there is a disparity between the private sector and the public service. That is blindingly obvious with the competitive wages. I'm sure you are well aware that if this matter doesn't get addressed shortly, Canada will likely see the largest strike ever in Canadian history.
As far as outsourcing goes, it's a very difficult and touchy subject for my membership. They see the work they could do, and used to do, to support the military members. Instead, they see that work getting contracted out, time and again.
There are two different ideologies when it comes to contracting. The contractors may support the military, but they're there to make a dollar. In the end, that's what their goal is, whereas the public servants' goal is to make sure that the mission is run successfully and to the best of their abilities. They conflict from time to time.
We see that time and time again. My own office is in the Counter Terrorism Technology Centre back in Suffield, Alberta. We had a building built. As I sat in my office, it was very obvious that the heating and air conditioning were not coming through into my office. I contacted DCC, Defence Construction Canada, which was overseeing the remodelling. They came back and said, “No, we checked our records. Everything is balanced.” I then went to National Defence and asked a few of my friends who work in the trades to come and take a look at the building, and—