The member opposite is missing again. He is talking about salaries. We are talking about pensions. There is a blockage over there. We have great difficulty getting through but believe you me, we are going to keep on trying. There may be some hope down the road. It is pensions and not salaries we are dealing with.
Seventy-eight per cent of the plans in the private sector do not have indexing. Why do we have it? Why are we so special?
About the contribution rate, Ernst & Young said it should be reduced from 11 per cent to 5 per cent. Bill C-85 instead of going down to 5 per cent gives us 9 per cent.
There is one good part about this bill. That is the opting in clause. I am proud to say I will not be opting in and I am also proud to say my Reform colleagues will not be opting in. We are out of it and I am proud to stand in the House and say this.
It will be a major issue in the 1997 election or whenever the next federal election is. These members' replacements, and they will be replaced, will not appreciate that they were not given the opportunity to opt out. They will waste no time in changing the plan. I can assure members of that and we will be here to help them do exactly that.