To the witnesses, I'm happy to be here on this important topic.
Mr. Chair, I want to say that, first of all, it's always interesting to me to see the ways in which the Conservative Party show their disappointment that they're unable to deliver for Canadians in so many ways. Here is yet another example of Conservatives trying to kill a bill that is moving us in the right direction.
Are there problems with it? Absolutely, there are. The NDP is able to put forward ways the Liberals can see full participation in elections, so Canadians have more faith in our electoral processes. That is exactly what we've done. Now, with the Liberals.... We can't control what is done from there or the actual delivery of it. There are pieces in here that I agree are problematic. I've made it quite clear in the House of Commons that the piece around the election date being changed from the existing one is a problem. The result is that members of Parliament would be receiving a pension and benefits they would not have received otherwise. We know people are struggling across Canada to make ends meet. It is not the time for members of Parliament to be looking at their own pensions. This is why I was very clear in the House of Commons about ensuring we get commitment from all members of Parliament to see this removed.
Can I get a clarification, Mr. Sutherland?
Instead of looking at killing this entire bill, the NDP has put forward an amendment to have this specific section of the bill removed, so that the election date would continue to be as originally planned. Therefore, the pensions of members of Parliament would not be impacted.
If that were to be removed, would there be any benefit, unintended or not, to those pensions? Can you answer that question?