Madam Speaker, I will try to be polite with the member in spite of what he has just said. I do not think his questions are horse manure. He has a right to ask whatever he wants no matter how objectionable I privately think his questions are.
I was asked if I contributed approximately $75,000 in capital to the MPs pension plan. That is probably true. I have no idea. I never counted it. We can phone some place in the comptroller's office and someone can tell us. It could be true.
He would however not take into account interest accumulated on capital. If one added that based on the basic five-year GIC rate, I would suspect that the $75,000, if it is the proper amount, is probably worth somewhere between $150,000 to $200,000 right now. Even invested in a GIC, that amount would generate probably $15,000 or $12,000 a year. I do not know what it would generate. That is not the point.
The point is that I am not retiring. I know it saddens members across the way, but I will not quit. I am not retiring. I was not elected to retire. I was elected to serve. Maybe that is a concept that shocks members.
I can understand why Reformers are just a little defensive concerning double dipping. They say it is okay for someone to receive a federal government pension and to serve in the House at full salary later but not the other way around. Could the reason why the argument is presented in that way by them is because they have dissension in their caucus with at least three double dippers at the federal level that I know of, two of whom are sitting in the Chamber right now as I make this speech. Duplicity, thy name is Reform.