Madam Speaker, I am pleased to join with my colleague from Winnipeg in supporting Bill C-12, an act to amend the RCMP superannuation act.
Bill C-12 will amend the RCMP superannuation act to ensure that the RCMP members serving in special duty areas are automatically considered to be on duty 24 hours a day and therefore get complete benefit coverage. At present the act provides for coverage only during periods of scheduled shifts, which my colleague from Winnipeg referred to.
As all Canadians would appreciate, when a soldier or an RCMP officer serves outside Canada on peacekeeping missions they face all sorts of dangers not just during their duty period but when they are off duty as well. We have seen many horrific examples of that around the world over the last couple of decades, in particular in conflict zones or special duty zones as they are called.
A special duty area is a designation given to certain geographic areas where Canadian forces members would be exposed to hazardous conditions not normally associated with service in peacetime. Examples of special duty areas for the RCMP would be Haiti and Bosnia where RCMP members are currently serving on peacekeeping missions.
This legislation will make RCMP members who serve as peacekeepers eligible for the same health benefits as military personnel. The NDP believes it is the only fair thing to do to include RCMP who are serving in the same areas as armed forces personnel so that they are eligible for the same benefit coverage.
Madam Speaker, I represent a district called Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, which you are aware of. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police training centre is in the constituency, the depot as we call it in Regina. We have a number of recruits coming to be trained. We also have a number of families working at the academy, at the depot, who have served on peacekeeping missions from time to time. Many police families reside in my constituency as well. I know many of them personally and many of them are my neighbours.
I might add that the neighbourhood I live in is probably one of the safest neighbourhoods and safest constituencies in all of Canada because we have such a large force, not just RCMP members but Regina police association members as well, residing in the district. We are very confident because we feel the neighbourhood is very safe.
These RCMP officers who serve our country overseas do not just serve their country but their community with a great deal of strength, consistency and loyalty. Bill C-12 recognizes this type of service and sacrifice by members of the RCMP.
I have worked on a number of issues in House of Commons over the past four years that are important to the RCMP and to the Regina Police Association. As a result of my efforts on issues like gun control, the Young Offenders Act and dealing with young offenders stealing a lot of autos in Regina, we have been able to make some strides with respect to making our community much safer overall in the city of Regina and the province of Saskatchewan. I have also been very supportive over the years of the collective bargaining process which the RCMP has sometimes been quite restricted in.
The bill reminds me of an old saying. It addresses one of the issues of an old saying I heard a while back that generals who neglect their soldiers in the battlefield will find it very difficult to find recruits when the next battle is fought. Bill C-12 is a very small step toward looking after RCMP members who serve our country in special duty areas or, as some people refer to them on occasion, in peacekeeping battlefields. It recognizes that they should be included and have the same benefits as those in the military.
I am very pleased to join with my colleagues in the NDP to support the bill. However I want to raise one issue which saw the light of day as recently as last week with respect to some of the pension issues, in particular the RCMP pension issue. The Solicitor General of Canada indicated that any additional cost which might be incurred by the change in Bill C-12 would be assumed within existing RCMP budgets.
The federal government used another $2.6 billion from its employee pension fund this year to help lower the deficit despite a storm of controversy over the legality of the manoeuvre. Last year the government took $2.4 billion, sparking outrage from not just unions but also pensioners who have banded together to take the government to court to stop the practice. The RCMP is involved with that court action.
I am very concerned about this latest action by the government. It is basically taking a pension fund and using it not for the purpose for which it was established, to provide pensions, whether disability pensions or retirement pensions, to those who contribute over their years of service whether they are in the Public Service of Canada or in specific forces like the RCMP. I think Canadians are quite outraged and unhappy with this latest government move.
My sense is if the court challenge fails—and I hope it does not; I hope they are successful—a number of politicians in the House of Commons will take the issue to the floor of the House time after time until the government deals with the deficit in a manageable, fair way.
Taking pension money from people who have not yet retired and those who are retired is an unacceptable practice in any country although in some banana republics this is the course of action. Canada has a pretty good reputation around the world but it worries me that it is becoming one of a banana republic because of some of the actions of the Liberal government opposite that were supported previously by the Mulroney government.
We have to address the issue. If the solicitor general is serious about supporting Bill C-12, maybe he could talk to his colleague, the Minister of Finance, and tell him to keep his damn fingers out of the pension till. It is about time that happened.
I want to go on record as saying that we support Bill C-12. We do not support the type of practices the Liberal government has instituted with respect to taking pension funds out of the public service pension superannuation for its own crass political purposes.
I assure the House that in the future we will be watching this issue very closely and taking it to the finance committee. We will be raising it with the Minister of Finance in the future to make sure he does not make those pensions unaffordable or jeopardize the plan. People who have contributed to these pension plans deserve them in their retirement.