Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to make a few short comments on this bill, since the debate is coming to an end.
All the more so since, as a Bloc Quebecois candidate during the general election leading up to the 35th Parliament, I did not come here with the idea that I would accumulate any pension. Nevertheless, this issue concerns us all.
If Canadians have shown some interest in the matter, it is probably after finding out that some young parliamentarians could, after two terms, start collecting very generous pensions.
Given the longer life expectancy, some of these pensions could total 3 to 3.5 million dollars.
This is what really concerns people. I did not hear my constituents say that the pensions were too generous. What concerns them is the fact that a member of Parliament can start collecting his or her pension as soon as he or she leaves office. During the election campaign, I pledged to fight in this House to ensure that MPs pensions would only be collected at a normal age, that is the age where the majority of Canadians working in the private or public sector, can legitimately retire.
The bill before us deals specifically with this issue, which is an issue on which we pledged to take a stand. The hon. member for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell clearly showed that, for the last 43 years, the MPs retirement plan has not only been self-financing, but has accumulated a profit. It is not a costly plan for the state. Indeed, it is a plan which is self-financing and which even generates profits.