Yes, of course. I really want to thank you for the question. This is an area that worries workers a lot, especially with the reality that some companies might be insolvent during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Minister Morneau has made some incredible improvements to the solvency issues that our pension plans are going to be faced withâtrying to get recognition of that reality. Equally, I highlighted today in our brief that it's quite likely some pension plans might suffer insolvency during this period.
In that regard, what we're saying is quite possible. The federal government could come up with a scheme to take over a plan should it become orphaned, in consultation with the workers and the employer, to decide how to manage that plan during the insolvency period to bring it back to life.
There are also other worries, of course. If a company should go bankrupt, the remaining assets of that company are not prioritized to go to workers. We have been calling for some time now that the workers should be first in line for the bankrupt assets to fund their pension. These were promises made by the employer. These are diverted wages. More importantly, employers should not be released from their responsibility during a bankruptcy period.
We also believe, at the same time, that it's quite important to do as Ontario has done. They have an insurance scheme. When a company goes bankrupt and the pension plan is completely orphaned, the insurance scheme is there to give the workers a degree of protection. Most recently we saw this with the workers from Sears. That company went bankrupt. The workers in Ontario fared better than workers outside of Ontario because of the pension insurance scheme that the Ontario government had in place.