Mr. Speaker, you will recall that in my speech I did say this was a debate of mistruth, half truths, twisting the truth and so on.
To answer the member's question, in the Public Accounts of Canada, 1991-92, on page 7.9, and in the 1993 public accounts, volume one, it does say quite specifically "an actuarial liability adjustment of $158 million", which he tried to tell us was just one of those fictitious accounting entries that mean nothing to Canadians. The only point is that the following year this fictitious accounting adjustment that means nothing attracted about $17 million worth of interest the taxpayer had to dig into his pocket to find. In 1991-92 the interest paid on the retirement allowances account was $3.44 million, and that jumped because the value of the fund went up because they put in $158 million of taxpayers' money. That interest jumped from $3.4 million to $20,493,768. That is accurate. I am quoting from the public accounts.
I am saying this was real money the Canadian taxpayers had to come up with. That is the shame of the whole affair. Remember I quoted the President of the Treasury Board when he said that this new plan would reduce the costs by 33 per cent. That amounts to $3.3 million of the $10 million the plan currently costs the government.
I recall the questioner saying this $158 million was some kind of fictitious accounting adjustment to bring things all the way through to cover off pensions that would not be paid. This is an actuarial liability adjustment. The plan needed that.
I never talked about the retirement compensation arrangements account, which will likely need a significant top-up as well. If the member cares to read the public accounts, he can study how his government spends its way through $165 billion.
They talk about balancing the budget, yet spending stays constant. They hope to squeeze more taxes out of Canadians in order to balance the budget. If they think that is the way to go, let them go back and ask their constituents if that is what they want, if they want the government as they balance the budget to take them by the neck and give them a rattle and a shake until the money falls out so that we can pay these pensions and balance the budget. I do not think so.