It is rubbish as the hon. member so eloquently just said.
A study was done by the Library of Parliament on my own pension benefits. I revealed it in committee and I will now do so on the floor of the House of Commons.
I have been a member since 1984 and I have paid premiums every month to the pension plan. Those premiums as of last January, when the study was done by Finn Poschmann of the research branch of the Library of Parliament, were evaluated with accumulated interest at the GIC rate, the rate offered in probably the most, pardon the expression, conservative investment vehicle anyone could use. If we calculated what I have invested in that personally, I have invested $136,988 in all these years.
Imagine what the member for Windsor West has invested after being an MP for 30 years, or the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, the member for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke and other veterans of this place. They will never see even a fraction of the interest on the money they have invested in those plans unless they live to be about 150 years old. How many times is that said to the people of Canada?
In any case I have invested almost $137,000. Based on a matching employer-employee contribution that is used in any kind of plan that would mean that right now I would have $274,000 invested. The interest alone on that right now would bring in about $27,000 a year. What would I get if I retired today as an MP? I would get $30,000 a year. What about these millions of dollars they say I would get? The difference is $3,000 a year based on the most conservative investment vehicle we could possibly find.
Imagine how much better off I would be if I had done rather well at investing. That plan is not to make the member for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell rich or the member for Windsor West rich or any other members who are already here and have served many terms. That is not the idea.
The idea is the following:
In my case, I was able, at a certain point, to leave my job and run for office. Now I have been elected, and nothing is going to change me, because I am here already.
To use the words of the member across, maybe now I have made it. However, that is not the point. The point is that others in all groups in society can run for office. Perhaps a 29-year old sole support mother who has a good job would like to run for office. She can do so and not threaten her family and their future by wanting to serve her country.
None of this is going to change me. I am already here and I have been here for a long time.