It is garbage and that is all it is. We are trying to do the appropriate job for those who sent us here.
I sit with a number of others on the Board of Internal Economy. We have made cuts everywhere we could and we are continuing to do that. We are going to continue to strive to do a good job, one that is economical for those we serve. At the same time, I say to members across the way that when they start doing things like saying members are worth nothing or very little, they do not win.
Some members across the floor were high ranking people in the military. How many people in the military are chauffeured around with limousines as part of their jobs? Do they have to account for that every day? Do members of the military have to put up with this kind of debate about their pensions? No, and I am not saying they should.
We were told by one member that the normal age of retirement and getting a pension is 65. That is what he said to us. We are going to be dealing with bills shortly to bring the retirement age in the public sector from 55 to as low as 50. So where is the truth in what we heard earlier? It is not there.
I end on the tone I started on. We made commitments through the red book. We are going to deliver to the people of Canada. At the same time, it does not mean we are doing a service to democracy by doing the damage that some people are trying to do.
I am now at an age where some of this is starting to make less and less difference. I am already here. I have been elected. My children are advancing in terms of university and everything else. None of this will probably affect me in the future, or if it does, very little. People who are 25 or 35 years old and want to run in the next election, I do not want for them to be unable to run because they cannot afford to, because they cannot afford the compensation package and because they cannot afford to leave the workplace.
As I said, I am already here as are all of us, but we have to remember that we are not here permanently. Others will come after us. To destroy the institution is serving no one.