MPs were told to take the GST back to their constituents and tell them how well it would work and how it was best for them. Mr. Speaker, you saw what happened when MPs went back and told the people that the top down message was the way to go. The message was loud and clear. It is not us across here that are giving politicians a bad name.
It is one of many things that have happened. Take the example of gun control. Gun control is being dealt with as a message from on high. What do the people want? People want crime control. They are not asking for gun control.
I come now to pensions. What is being done with this pension? The people of Canada do not mind paying the salaries of those members of Parliament who do the job for them. I have not heard much complaint about the salaries. However, they expect the pension to be the same as they can get in industry. That is all they are asking. If that were the case, I do not think there would be a problem.
What I really think happened was that a number of senior members on the other side decided no, we are here, we have it, we are not going to give it up. They demonstrated like so many do that they are not prepared to make sacrifices for the country.
Why should Canadians make a sacrifice if the leaders will not? The people who were elected in 1993 are caught in this thing. They know what people are saying because they are still in touch with their constituents. That is some 200 plus of us.
I am sure it was felt that members on this side would be split on this item. We feel so strongly about it in the Reform Party that 52 of us are going to take that exemption and get out of the pension plan. That is a pretty big surprise to the governing party.
I bring members to what is going to happen in 1997-98. We are all standing on a stage at an all candidates forum. I think about the questions from that crowd. I think about them saying: "Okay, there is a candidate up there who has opted out of the gold plated pension that some 85 per cent of Canadians in a survey said must be eliminated. Someone has opted out. All of the rest cannot opt out even if they wanted to because their party said they had to belong to that gold plated pension plan".
It will be a pretty tough position for other candidates to defend. Throw in a bit of gun control. Throw in a few of the other major issues and it will be even more difficult. We know that governments defeat themselves. They are seldom defeated from the outside.
It is just amazing that something like this would be dealt with this way. I can hardly believe, with all the spin doctors and all the professional consultants that the other party has, it would even consider gambling with something like this gold plated pension unless a lot of members plan to opt in or opt out, however it is going to work. It is certainly going to be an Achilles' heel in the coming election.
The people will be able to speak. The people have shown that already. The people have power now. In case members have not noticed, they demonstrated it in 1992 with the Charlottetown accord. They demonstrated it in the election very strongly about the GST and the corrupt items that we talked about. They certainly demonstrated it to the cable television companies. Members better believe that they are going to display their power in 1997-98 or whenever the next election is. The battle cry is going to be gold plated pensions. I guarantee it will be at the top of the list.
This is the sort of issue that to me touches everybody. All people think about their health, their old age and protection and security for themselves and their families. This is something to which every one of them can relate.
When you get something that everybody can relate to, Mr. Speaker, you now have a very definite issue. Members of the Reform Party are not going to let voters forget about the pension plan. We might be talking about guns, we might be talking about other things but those issues do not touch everyone. When we have an issue like taxes, an issue like pensions that touches everyone, people will respond.
I suppose the purpose of this House is for us to point out to everyone here the issue, the problems and what the people of Canada are saying about an issue like this. I respectfully put forward this point of view and say this is an issue we must deal with.