Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak to this bill today.
When I listened to the words the government whip had about the Reform Party and this pension plan, it makes me ashamed to be sitting in the House listening to that kind of poor rhetoric from the Liberal government. People in my riding of Fraser Valley West living in Langley, Aldergrove and Abbotsford must be shaking their heads today wondering what is happening in that place where they are supposed to be running this country.
What is happening in this place is a major disappointment. When I was elected I thought I could come to the House and try to change this government and get it off things like this fat pension plan. I thought just maybe we could try the concept of a triple-E Senate where senators would be elected, effective and would have equal representation. I thought we could deal with things like balancing the budget. I thought we could look at trying to reduce the number of frivolous grants that are given out year after year after year. I thought I could effect a change in patronage and ethics and get the government to change.
However, everything I have just mentioned is still happening is still supported by this government, even though it knows it is wrong. The Liberals sat on this side of the House in the last session of Parliament and belittled the Conservatives for it and here the Liberals are still at it.
The Liberals made a promise in a document called the Liberal red book. The Liberal red book actually came out during the election. It was not a long term plan they had. It was an election tool. The promise was to make some changes in this pension plan.
I will go through these changes. Essentially that was a facade. The government has told the Canadian people it is changing things but it is not doing it. They are weak changes. They are not real reforms to the pension plan. It is just a facade to make the folks out there think that something is really happening here. What is really happening out there is that people are overtaxed, frustrated and fed up. It is no wonder from listening to this kind of rhetoric on pension plans.
I could call these Liberals hypocritical for saying one thing and doing another, but I will not. I could call them trough slurping pension planners for making an absolutely abysmal excuse in trying to change a pension plan, but I will not. I could call them overindulging politicians for taking more than what they are worth, but I will not. What I will call these Liberals and this government are plain bad managers.
Organizations in Canada that work in developing pension plans for their employees work within the Income Tax Act, as I have done in developing a pension plan for my employees. I give what is fair and reasonable, usually a dollar for a dollar. That is not what is happening here. Here government members are telling Canadians that they are going to reduce some benefits and save Canadians money while at the same time they milk the system for all it is worth. I think that is disgusting.
Let us think about what the Liberals are developing. They want to establish a future minimum age of 55. I checked the records and the majority of parliamentarians in the House are already 55 years old. What kind of smoke are they putting out here? They want to eliminate double dipping. That is nice. They are saying that when they give the patronage jobs to their friends, they will not give them the $130,000 or $180,000 plus a pension. They will hold the pension back.
What the government does not really say about this is that the pension members earn while they are MPs is still accumulating compound interest. When they get out of the patronage job, the double dipping job they are talking about, they get the MPs pension updated and indexed. They also get all the returns from the patronage position. Talk about being at the trough.
The Liberals have talked about lowering the rate at which the benefits accrue. They currently accrue at 5 per cent. It is 5 per cent of $64,000 for every year of service. They said: "We are going to do something here. We will bring it down to 4 per cent". What Liberal members are not saying is that 4 per cent is still double the rate of private sector pension plans, registered plans under the Income Tax Act. They also do not say that there are special provisions in the Income Tax Act to make way for that.
If we want to reform a pension plan or anything else in the House, we had better start a real reform, not the half baked idea of telling people one thing and doing another. Hypocrites.
They have lowered the rate at which individual members contribute to the plan from 11 per cent to 9 per cent. Very good. Members here will get a 2 per cent return, more cash in their hands. Congratulations. At the same time that is being done, what really happens is the contributions they are giving are really going to cost more to the taxpayer.
Reform Party members will opt out. Now what are they to do? In this pension plan they need all the contributions to make it viable. If we opt out of it they will be short of cash. They have taken 2 per cent of the cash coming in from members so who are they to hit? That is right folks, the Canadian taxpayer. That is who is to pay for it.
They have given us an opportunity to opt out. I am opting out of this plan. I have a family to look after as well and I do not have a job to go to at the end of my parliamentary career. That is just fine with me. That is just fine with my wife and family. We will go back to our riding and we will hold our heads a little higher.
For those people who forced at least some change, the Liberal government is saying: "We will make it very difficult for you when you opt out. You can never get back in". That is fine. I can live with that. "We will give you a 4 per cent return". Well, that is good too.
They are not saying that there is absolutely no hope for anybody opting out of the plan to make a move to get back in. People are entitled to change their minds, but the government has to be very careful about what it is doing. This is not an act to punish. If people want to opt out, let them opt out. The government has a bad management style that will not be forgotten.
Finally let me say that the RRSP limits this year were supposed to be $14,500 for the average Canadian citizen but the government kept it at $13,500. Folks out there get a little less and folks across here get a little more. Is that a great example you set?