Mr. Chair, one of our challenges as legislators is to try to sort through what is actually the real picture as opposed to something that is perhaps a little bit misleading.
One thing about Bill C-501 that has been advertised, and advertised falsely, is that it would elevate pensions to super-priority status. That's simply not the case. The reality is that it only deals with special payments that have been paid up to the date of a company's bankruptcy, which is really a much smaller portion. In that sense, it's unfortunate that this bill is misleading a lot of people.
At the same time, perhaps from the other side of the coin, I have difficulty understanding how the situation I've just described with Bill C-501 is going to cause so much turmoil in the credit markets that it's going to shut off all of that capital that has been mentioned.
As you can appreciate, it's difficult for us to get an accurate picture of the truth.
What I would like to ask Mr. Everson first, and then Mr. Casey afterwards, is how you would answer the question for somebody who has contributed for his or her entire career to a pension and is now in a situation in which the company they worked for has gone bankrupt, and they're only going to get a portion of their pension. I'll use the example of Nortel in your case, Mr. Casey, and of AbitibiBowater in your case, Mr. Everson.
How would you explain the situation to them? Do you have an alternative that would perhaps satisfy them?