Mr. Speaker, Canadians are fair, but that fairness is being abused in the bill. All they are asking for is fairness. They are prepared to give it, but they are not getting it back now.
What are Canadians saying about this? No issue has a higher profile. Two years ago during my campaign it came up at every all candidates meeting, at every door I knocked on. It certainly continues to be brought up at every town hall meeting I go to. They ask: "When are you going to do something about that gold plated pension plan?" That is what Canadians want to know and they are asking it from coast to coast.
Let me quote from a survey by Environics. Eighty-six per cent of Canadians say that the MPs pension plan is too generous. Ninety-three per cent believe the federal government should
fundamentally reform the plan before cutting government spending, including spending on social programs.
Eighty-eight per cent support bringing the plan into line with private sector pension plans. Ninety-three per cent believe that the value of the MPs pension plan should have the same limit on growth as the private sector plans. Ninety-one per cent believe that MPs should only begin to collect their pensions at age 65. Sixty-five per cent say that MPs pensions should not be indexed to inflation.
The government had a great opportunity in this bill to restore some integrity to this place and it missed it by a country mile. It is most unfortunate. Politics have changed in Canada for the better. Canadians are no longer going to be dictated to from the top down.
The old guard who has been here for a number of years has not received that message. I was hoping that the 205 new members, many of whom are from Ontario, would have understood that the Canadian people are not going to take this lying down any more. They will stand up and be heard.
Let us look at what the consultants said about this MPs compensation package. On eligibility Ernst & Young said that it should be age 60 and not age 55 as it is in this bill. On pension accumulation, they recommended 2 per cent. What do we have here? We have double that. We have 4 per cent. On indexing they said only to inflation in excess of 3 per cent. What does this bill give us? Full indexing.