Mr. Speaker, the minister responsible for public works indicated that the government had demonstrated a sensitivity for seniors with the continuation of the RRAP. I agree. The Minister of Finance indicated some sensitivity to low income Canadians with special responsibilities by having a benefit differential with the UI changes.
My question is for the Minister of Finance. When the decision was made to freeze salaries of the public service across the board, and recognizing the tremendous variation from very low paid jobs to very high, why did he not show the same sensitivity to those people who work for the government? Why did he not recognize that to freeze those wages for everybody is quite different in terms of impact for somebody making $20,000 a year and somebody making $120,000 a year?