My thanks to my colleague, who is also the vice-chair of the committee, for the question.
If the bill were passed, it would change a lot of things.
I would start by saying that, if this bill were to pass, everyone would win. Earlier, I mentioned the possibility of changing the priority of creditors, in this case the pension plans. In fact, the creditors are not the pension plans, but the workers themselves, since it is their deferred wages. If a company is in financial difficulty, everyone will sit around the same table because everyone has an interest in seeing the company restructured in order to avoid bankruptcy. So that's one of the benefits of the bill.
Also, you mentioned that a worker's pension fund could be reduced by 25% in the event of bankruptcy. That was the percentage in the specific case of Cliffs Natural Resources, but it can be as high as 50%. That's pretty much what happened with White Birch Paper. A 50% cut is huge. The bill guarantees that wage for workers. It provides certain conditions for those who are still working, for those who are retiring and for those who are already retired. So it benefits all workers and the community as a whole.
I'm not sure whether you want a more specific answer. I talked very broadly about wages and insurance and the fact that people will reinvest in the community and all parties are going to try to further prevent a business from going under.
Some say that, if you give priority of repayment to workers' pension funds, it will be a little more risky for the banks, and they might be a little bit worried about it. In fact, if they're worried about a company going bankrupt, they may be more willing to lend money to that company because it could be a way to guarantee the restructuring of the company. If I had something to lose, I would be a lot more willing to do what I have to do to make sure it works, rather than the other way around. In any case, as soon as a company gets into serious trouble, the banks are not inclined to lend it money. That is what we usually see, and this bill will not change that.
I must also mention that, right now, the government comes before the workers. That is not right. This bill would change that as well.