Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak to the bill, but at the same time I am also pleased to inform the House that some Conservative members in the other place voted for the bill, some voted against the bill, some abstained and so on. In other words it is the same thing as usual: several different messages coming from the Tories.
We are back to Bill C-314. I am pleased to be speaking about that. The hon. member from the New Democratic Party is proposing this bill to us today. As my colleague for Kingston and the Islands has indicated, this is not a bill that some of us are willing to support.
The bill would create a number of inconsistencies. Apparently one of the issues is the concern for public funds. It is interesting that some public pensions would be applicable in terms of the reduction from salaries and others would not. For instance, if an MP happened to be older than 65 years of age, the CPP or QPP provisions would not be reduced, even though that is a public pension as well, but other pensions would. OAS would not be covered, veterans pensions and so on, but military pensions would. You can see that there are a number of inconsistencies created in what the hon. member is trying to address.
The government has gone a very long way toward improving the pension plan for members of Parliament. I believe the government has done the right thing. I was pleased to support the government's initiative. I was pleased to defend it. I did not happen to think there was much wrong with the system as it existed even prior to that change, but some people feel, and those in the Reform Party are in that category, that MPs should have less pension and virtually double the salary. This is what the member for Calgary Centre has suggested.
When I was asked by the media what the chances are of doubling MPs' salaries, I said it is about the same as the chances of Brian Mulroney being re-elected. In other words, it is not a very likely proposition, to put it mildly. Most Canadians would not look too favourably on either one of those two situations. Of course that did not happen.
It is wrong as well to somehow portray, either through the bill or others, that MPs are somewhat overpaid. I do not share that view. I am not suffering. I believe I am making a decent salary. In comparison with other people in society, I do not believe that we are overpaid. In my province of Ontario, a high school vice-principal-there must be two dozen of them in my constituency-is paid a salary which is larger than mine. A high school principal makes even more. Then there are the school superintendents, the directors of education and so on. I am only addressing people in the public sector involved in education.