Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to address the issue today.
If one issue has given ordinary Canadians a very sour view of politicians it is the grossly over generous MP pension plan. It has become a symbol of the elitist mentality that has overtaken our politicians when they are entrusted with the strings of the public purse.
It seems when we get there we give people the impression we think on a higher level. This MP pension plan has become a symbol for that type of elitist mentality. People have become so cynical about those who are put in power as their elected representatives that they are skeptical that any good thing can come out of this place. The cynicism is so widespread they do not believe a thing politicians say any longer.
When I worked in underdeveloped countries we lived out in the rain forest. In our home, besides cockroaches, ants and all that other kind of stuff, we had tiny lizards called geckos. My wife did not like these things so she ask our son to throw them out. If one tries to grab them and is not quick enough and only catches their tail, they have the amazing capacity to drop their tail. They are not harmed. In one's hand is this wildly wiggling tail and the gecko gets away.
When I came back to Canada I saw the same thing in our political arena. We have an election and when the election is done all we are left with is a wildly wiggling tongue. We have these politicians who make these promises, their tongues wiggling wildly, and they escape to Ottawa. They do their thing there. They line their pockets with this over generous MP pension plan. The public is outraged at the money being spent on this MP pension plan. They think it is a public disgrace.
There are some secondary effects to the MP pension plan. People are concerned about the millions being paid out through the plan. It is a disgrace. It is a plan put in place by the very people who will benefit from it. The people here use the taxpayers' hard earned money to line their pockets and people find that unacceptable.
However, there is something else. There are some secondary effects to the MP pension plan. The MP pension plan gives people the wrong incentive in the performance of their job. The plan is totally out of line with what people who are not elected
could realistically expect; a plan so structured that an MP who can get re-elected can dip into it. It is structured in a such a way that the longer one is here the greater one's benefit so that it accrues into the millions of dollars if one can get re-elected for several terms.
What does that mean? Politicians can come to this place with the most honourable of intentions but when they see they will make a huge pile of money if they can get re-elected, that they can get the equivalent of winning a lottery, they become distorted in their vision of the country. They become blurred with the dollar signs before their eyes because of the MP pension plan. Most people do not realize it is not just the money we spend on this, it is the negative spin off effects because of this MP pension plan.
What is one of the biggest problems before the country today? Most people would say it is the economic condition. We have a huge debt and deficit. There is a lack of jobs and unemployment is way out of line. Our taxes are too high. How did it get that way? How did we come to the point at which we have overspent to the tune that we have enslaved our children for years to come?
Politicians made promises so they could get re-elected. They have the incentive built in with the MP pension plan that if they can only win the next election maybe things will hang together long enough.
Let me propose this. Let us remove this Cadillac pension plan. Let us reduce the salary of MPs until they solve our debt and deficit problem, until they begin to reduce taxes, until the jobs come back into the country.
Let us reduce that incentive until it is all fixed. If we were to take half of our salary, if we were to do away with the MP pension plan until all these problems were fixed overnight we would have a wonderful solution to everything ailing us. There is no incentive built into the system to make politicians do what is right for the country. The incentives are in the reverse.
MPs made promises just to get re-elected. They will cater to special interest groups and give them promises so they can get re-elected. They will raise taxes so they can promise more. They will spend more to get votes in their ridings. They will do whatever they can to get re-elected and feed at the trough.
What is another big problem in the country? I alluded to it when I told a little story about the wiggling tail and the wiggling tongue. We only have democracy for a very short time every five years. Politicians listen to the people only when it is convenient.
I see this very clearly in the gun control issue which I have been dealing with. Politicians will hide what they are doing. They do not even ask the people what they think. Politicians are afraid to put democratic reforms in this place so the people will have more to say.
Why do they not put in referendums? Why do they not allow for citizen initiatives? Why do they not allow the recall of an MP who does not do their job? It is because those citizens might say: "You are putting too much into your own pocket. You are not running the country the way we want it run".
There was an old farmer once who was on hard times, as many farmers are. He had a donkey. He had a hard time feeding the donkey. He thought he would put a little sawdust into his oats to make him feel full.
The first day he put a little sawdust into the oats. He gave it to the donkey and the donkey did not seem to notice. The donkey felt full and did not complain. He did it again the next day. He put a little more sawdust into the oats and he continued to do it.
He thought he was fooling the donkey. The donkey seemed fine. To make a long story short, one day he came out after the donkey was on a diet of almost pure sawdust and all four legs were up in the air.
That is what is happening in this country. It will soon have all four legs up in the air because people are being fed sawdust, a little more every day. The politicians keep adding it to their diet and think people do not notice.
They can put the MP pension plan in place. They think: "I will put this along and the people will swallow it. They will accept it". At some point people will say: "That is enough. We really have had enough of this sawdust. We might feel full today but hard times are coming".
We need to have real MP pension plan reform because it is hurting the country. It provides the wrong incentive for people to get re-elected or even to get elected. This is supposed to be the highest court in the land. That is an absolute joke.
We on an average day have very few people here listening to the debate, wondering if the legislation is good or not because we do not even have a say. The Prime Minister and the few people he surrounds himself with control the whole thing. There are no free votes in here.
The people of this country do not even have any input as to what the pension plan will be. The government will ram it through. That is why we do not have anybody sitting around here listening to the debate. It is because this is not the highest court in the land any more.
We have made a mockery of this place and what happens here. People do not even bother to show up to listen. I came here to build up the country and to make positive changes. People want to see people in public life there because they believe in sound principles, willing to serve their country selflessly.
The MP pension plan gives people the wrong incentive. It gives people elected to this place the incentive to remain here, not necessarily just to serve their country.
I have lived on the farm. I have raised pigs and I know what pigs are like. I wish everybody could see what it is like when they get to the trough. They stand there and defend their places. The biggest pig gets his snout in there and all the little pigs dare not disturb him. The pigs keep their snouts in there until they get fatter and fatter. They are pig headed. I wish I had time to explain what pig headed is. It is well illustrated when observing them. They will not listen to reason. They will do what they are bent on doing and will not change their plans in any way.
I see that happening in this place. We do not just have our noses in the trough; we are also being pig-headed in this whole issue.