Mr. Speaker, I was pleased to give up my turn to the member for Saint John earlier, the reason being that there is a shipyard in her riding, as there is in my riding of Lévis. This may strike you as odd, but all parties sometimes have something in common.
When I listen to her, the old saying about not having your cake and eating it too came to mind. Basically, she is deploring the fact that the population is aging and that the CPP can be expected to cost the government more. If one were consistent, one would then admit that more money needs to be put into the fund, but that is not what she is saying.
On the contrary, she is saying that it is an unwarranted and unacceptable tax hike. We in the Bloc Quebecois feel the same way. The population is aging and there will be an increase in the needs of seniors, of those retiring in the future.
But there is worse. We must not forget those to follow, subsequent generations. Earlier, the member for Lac-Saint-Jean spoke of his concerns and fears as a young person for the future.
There must be no mistake about this. The Liberal and Conservative governments should have taken action much sooner. If we look at the demographic patterns, at the statistics, it is obvious that there will a problem to resolve. It could have been foreseen and resolved much earlier, but this was not done.
We therefore find ourselves in a situation where there is a mad rush to build up the fund, to make it more efficient, more productive, as Quebec did several years ago by setting up its Caisse de dépôt et placement. The Caisse is the pride of Quebeckers. Being a staunch sovereignist, I am delighted to see that the federal government wants to copy Quebec. This augurs well because it is also an admission that the Quebec government's solutions are sometimes good ones.
But back to the amendments. Following this line of thought, Motion No. 13 is admittedly a bit special. The New Democratic Party and the Reform Party agree on something. This worries me. What is the explanation when we see people from parties with completely different ideologies agree? Why is it that they agree on that when they are at opposite ends of the political spectrum?
They are also against it. They want to have their cake and eat it too. That is not possible. There comes a time when we have to make a choice, and this choice is now before us. The Bloc Quebecois' position is that the fund for the pension plan absolutely has to be increased. That is why we cannot support amendments designed to limit the assets going into the fund. For us, it stands to reason that it should operate this way.
The other amendments have more or less the same objective, and the motives in the case of Motion No. 14 are the same. I do not have much too say on Motion No. 15. We have to admit at times that we do not understand very well. I hope the NDP members will be providing more information because, as it now stands, this amendment serious questions.
As for Motion No. 16, it calls for the deletion of the section dealing with the new rules for calculating the benefits. These rules state that the pensionable earnings average will be determined by taking the last five years, instead of the last three years as is presently done. We are against this amendment for the reasons outlined before. This would have the effect of not ensuring the long term viability of the plan.
As for Motion No. 17, I do not have any comments. On Motion No. 18, if I understood correctly, the member for Qu'Appelle wishes to increase the contributions, so that the maximum earnings would go from $35,000 to $70,000. If that is what is meant, we can announce right now that we will be against it.
As for Motion No. 19, it calls for the deletion of the clause that provides for stricter requirements on the payment of benefits in the case of combined retirement and disability benefits. There is something I do not understand in all this. When a person is disabled, it is necessarily because he or she is sick or has a disability. I think everyone would agree that a person with a disability has a higher cost of living. Equipment and facilities that generally cost more are required.
It is the same thing in the case of people who have an incurable disease. They need medication, many types of services, and people to help them. So I think we have to accept the principle that people with a disability, when they are retired, need extra support to continue to live under conditions that are as normal as possible.
So these are the main arguments. Other colleagues from my party may also have observations on this, but that is the position of the Bloc Quebecois on Group No. 6.