Madam Speaker, I am quite aware of the Chilean experience. I want to relate to the House and to people at home a bit about the Chilean experience. The member opposite keeps using it. He should do his party a favour and stop doing that because if Canadians knew the Chilean experience, they would be amazed that the Reform Party cannot find a better solution or a better example than that. Let me give some facts about the Chilean experience.
Chile privatized its public pension some time ago, about 20 years ago. The original plan was in complete disarray. There were over 30 plans in place when it went to its super RRSP kind of system. There was little similarity between ours and Chile's. That is why I am confused as to why the member would even want to use it as an example because we cannot compare the two.
High inflation was seriously eroding the value of the benefits. Only a few groups with political and economic power received generous benefits. By contrast, the CPP is portable and nearly universal. Everyone receives a fair pension. It includes disability and survivor benefits and is fully indexed. There is a big difference between ours and Chile's.
The following is the really interesting part. When the new pension regime came in in Chile, Chile passed a government decree making all employers raise their wages by 18% to soften the impact of higher contributions.
I do not know why this member continues to suggest that this is a good example of why Canada should go to Chile's example. Please, on behalf of the Reform Party and a few members in my riding who would like the member to represent them properly, find a better example. He is hurting his chances of ever getting elected by using a silly argument like that when we know Canada pension plans and universal pension plans are much better. I hate to see Reform drop to zero in my riding because we would like to keep it alive just a bit.