Mr. Speaker, first, we are talking about pensions, not salaries. I will answer the hon. member's question about salary.
The Canadian public does not know what an MP does. I must admit that some of us who came here for the first time probably really did not know how much work was involved. If people knew the number of hours involved I think there would be support for higher salaries. In any business there would be some MPs who would not qualify but generally speaking MPs are underpaid.
A pay increase at least is honest. It is straightforward. If it is explained properly the Canadian public would understand that. They cannot understand a pension that MPs have rewarded to themselves that is totally different from other pensions. It is three and a half times better than you can get in industry.
Canadians cannot accept the dishonesty of that sort of a pension. What they could accept would be the honesty of saying: "These are the hours, this is the job that is done and this is the salary that should have been obtained".
You say you took a salary cut. I took a big salary cut too.