Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the witnesses for being here.
This is a big issue for my constituency. I'm from British Columbia, and there are many veteran RCMP who have retired in our area--we're in kind of a retirement area--so I get a lot of e-mails on this issue. I do appreciate it.
Separating the issues around disability...and I'm very sympathetic with some of those things that maybe need to be changed. With regard to the actual pension and the term “clawback”, when it was set up there was a superannuation premium paid, but when the CPP came along it was blended into that payment. So you didn't have to pay the superannuation premium out of your paycheque on a monthly basis because it was blended into your superannuation.
Part of that whole agreement was that even though you wouldn't be able to collect your CPP until you were 65 or 60, there would be a bridge there--a pension--if you retired earlier. That's the way it was set up. It's unfortunate that maybe it wasn't communicated well enough to those who were being employed by the Government of Canada, whether it was the Canadian Forces or the RCMP.
As we all know, ignorance of a law is not an excuse. When you enter into a labour contract and go to work for somebody, you have those things--what your roles and responsibilities are, and what your compensation is going to be. This was over 40 years ago.
I've heard two comments. One is that it wasn't in your package about your compensation; then I heard that it was but you didn't realize the impact until afterwards. Was it in the package and just overlooked, or maybe the implications of that agreement...? It was basically signed by those who started employment, whether it was with the RCMP or the Canadian Forces.
Maybe I could direct that to Mr. White.