Mr. Speaker, the federal riding I have the pleasure to represent in this House, the riding of Frontenac—Mégantic, lies along the American border, so that I have over 500 retired people who are being unfairly penalized by the convention adopted January 1, 1986.
Most of them are suffering, because their incomes are between $10,000 and $18,000.
Under this convention, which is still in effect, they lose 25%. The United States takes 25.5% of their American pensions at source, and there is no way to recover this amount, even though they should be able to recover much of it.
For those in the low income group, this is therefore unfair, and in the riding of Frontenac«Mégantic, more than 500 people are directly affected by the legislation before us this morning.
I have three questions for my colleague from Durham. When can retired people expect to receive their American cheques in their entirety?
My second question is: I understood that this bill would be retroactive from January 1, 1996, is this still the case?
My third question is not a question but a comment. My colleagues in the Reform Party intimated earlier that they would do everything within their power to delay passage of Bill C-10, which we are debating this morning. I think I understand why the Reform members are so strongly opposed. There were loopholes in the 1986 convention but there was also abuse. The Minister of Finance of the government to which the member for Durham belongs shamelessly took advantage of tax shelters by registering his vessels of the Canadian Steamship Line in tax havens. This is perhaps why the Reform members are opposed to Bill C-10.
We in the Bloc—and Gérard Lamothe who is watching us this morning is no doubt very proud of his member of Parliament—will support you, but we would like you to act very quickly, because a number of our constituents have been calling for this bill to be passed for months.