Mr. Speaker, the last member gave us a history lesson. Let us just review very quickly some of the history since 1993. We nearly lost Canada in a Quebec referendum. We are $100 billion deeper in debt. There are $26 billion in increased taxes. Youth unemployment stands at 17%. Patronage appointments abound everywhere. We have job equity. The deception is that somehow our financial problems have been fixed although we have a $50 billion interest payment. Now comes the most severe tax grab that we have ever had where the tax will be raised from 5.6% to 9.9% of a person's income.
To show the total disrespect for democracy, we now have closure being used on this bill that affects almost all Canadians.
Let us go back in history to 1966 when this experiment in socialism was started. We were told that deductions would never go above 5.5%. However, with mismanagement we now have a pension plan that is underfunded by $560 billion.
Let us talk about the pension plan as hon. members across the way want to keep talking about it. Let us talk about young people. They are the people who are going to be affected by this the most but let us also include seniors who have children and grandchildren.
We are going to destroy the incentive of these young people. We are going to rob them of their jobs because of these payroll tax deductions. The small businessman is going to be put further down the line and his chances of survival are that much less.
During the last election I made up a little card. This little card refers to exactly what this plan is all about. I talked to many young people, particularly, in the workforce at their places of work. I said to them “Let us think about what this plan is really about. In the next six years you are going to go from a $935 maximum deduction if your income is $35,000 to a point where you are paying $1,645. Your employer will have to match it. This is roughly $3,300. If you are 30 years old you are going to paying that $3,300 for 35 years until you are 65. At the end of that time you will get $8,800 provided you don't have too high an income. If you have too high an income the government is going to claw it back from you. Maybe what you are doing is really investing $3,300 a year for 35 or more years to get nothing”.
What would be a better way? Obviously, a better way would be to take that $3,300 and invest it in almost any kind of securities or program if it was compulsory. If it was at only 6%, at age 65 that very same person would have a $275,000 nest egg and would have an annuity that would pay $26,000 until death.
What kind of investment are we asking our young people to make? We are asking them to be robbed. We are asking them to be part of this deceptive scheme that will take six years to implement.
Let us come to the present. The government is saying “We are very early in our mandate and so let us get the dirty things done quickly and then maybe people will forget about it. Maybe the electorate will forget about it”. All of us in this House had better dedicate ourselves to making sure that the electorate knows what kind of robbery this is for our young people.
I would like to read some quotes. I really think these are fitting. Mr. Axworthy, who was a member of Parliament, was quoted on April 1, 1993 as saying “It displays the utter disdain with which this government treats the Canadian people,” when he talked about closure. The House leader said on November 16, 1992 as quoted in Hansard “I am shocked. This is just terrible. This time we are talking about a major piece of legislation. Shame on those Tories across the way for using closure”.
Mr. Speaker, with all respect I must quote you on April 23, 1993 from Hansard when you said “This is not the way to run Parliament. This is an abuse of the process of this House”. I say to the government, it is a disgrace what it has just done, using closure on a piece of important legislation. Mr. Speaker, we agree with you totally. I tell you, they should go up in our caucus room because you are right.
We know that you are close to the people of your riding and to the people of Canada, Mr. Speaker. That is what the people are saying about this charade that we saw taking place today.
The government will continue to move closure. That is the sad part about it. This is just the beginning. In the last House the government used closure 29 times, the most in the whole history of Parliament.
The last member said “Hey, this is an honourable place”. This place has lost its democratic reason to exist. This place is a disgrace because of those people across the way.
I trust that all of us are going back to our ridings and I trust that the people in those ridings are going to say “How can you shut down debate? How can you not listen to us telling you about this robbery that is going to take place of every Canadian?”
What are the options? The government would like us to think that there are none. But let us just quickly talk about those. There are many options. Within six years I believe the government will admit it was wrong. Of course it will not be the government at that point but when the government members are sitting across here they will say “That was probably the worst mistake we made in this House”.
What are the options? The options are obvious. Let young people set up a private plan. Let us take a look at what Britain is going to be doing. It is going to that sort of a plan. The U.S. is pretty much committed to going to that plan within the next two years. Australia and New Zealand have already done it. Chile has been on that plan for 16 years. Let us examine those. Let us see what other countries are doing so that we can do the same for the people of Canada. There are options out there.
So that the hon. finance minister cannot continue to misquote the Reform position, let us tell people today that all of those people who have paid into the CPP will be paid out in a credit system whereby they will get a prorated pension plan for the years of contribution.
It will take time to phase in this plan but we have to start it now. All of us know that in time if we stay with the plan we have we will be going back for more contributions, more money, more tax grabs.
We have to look at these options. We have to present them in the House. They need to be debated here, but the government has closed down that option. As we heard from the finance committee they do not even have it in their schedule to discuss this.
As we know from the last Parliament. the government will think nothing of using closure in committee, using closure at third reading and ramming this legislation through because it has a deadline of January 1. When the workers start to realize that their contributions have gone from $935 to $1,645, we had better believe they are going to let people know and we better believe they will let the members across the way know. Four years from now it should be time and it should have moved well enough along that the results will be at the ballot box.
In conclusion, today has been a dark day for our country. It has been a dark day for young people. It is up to us to communicate that across the country. All of us on this side of the House had better dedicate ourselves to that job.