Thank you, Mr. Lake.
I really want to talk about the good things that seem to be going on today across Canada with respect to pensions.
The federal Minister of Finance and the provincial ministers of finance are working hard at looking at restructuring the public pension plans. There was a fabulous debate in the House of Commons on the evening of November 23, when the members of Parliament talked about pensions for five hours. I saw that as a very enlightening debate. It was a very constructive discussion. All members of all parties were talking about ways of improving the pension system that exists in Canada.
Fundamentally, I want to make the point that this is where this problem belongs. This is a big-picture problem. It is not a problem that can be handled on a piecemeal basis. All I can do is urge members of this committee to recognize that.
This bill fundamentally should not move beyond this committee, because it will hurt Canadians, it will hurt Canadian companies, and it will impede the progress of improving income security for all Canadians.
One has to always respect what happened to the Nortel employees. There's no question that it's a most excruciating position to be in, but....