Mr. Speaker, we are very happy to see the hon. member back and in good health. She is sometimes better than her leader, so we are happy to have her here.
For the last six years that she has been here she has not minded being trapped. Now that she knows she is trapped she wants to get out. It is kind of a coincidence because we never heard about that when she was to be trapped.
This is a subject I find terribly disappointing. As of tomorrow I will have been a member of Parliament for 32 years. I have contributed to the pension plan 15 years too many. What I do not like about that kind of question is the implication that when one is a member of Parliament one does not earn every cent for the service one renders to one's constituents and the people of Canada.
When I see good members of Parliament like her downgrading her own value by telling people she is overpaid, I must tell her she is not overpaid. None of us is overpaid. Concerning those who are overpaid, the people of Canada will do the right thing and kick them out in the next election.
I find it ridiculous for the Reform Party to think that members of Parliament, who make half the salary of the lowest paid hockey players in the NHL, are overpaid.