Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform you first off and thus let our competent clerks know that I will be sharing my time with the member for Laval East.
Bill C-2 to reform the Canada pension plan now before the House has arrived four years late. It is however vital for Quebeckers contributing to the CPP.
Few Quebeckers are actually affected by this plan; fewer that one half of one per cent of the residents of Quebec receive CPP benefits. The statistics may not perhaps be accurate, but we are talking about some 12,000 Quebeckers. However, they and the people of Canada have not all had the opportunity to set up a private pension plan, and we must ensure they have an income when they decide to retire.
I said the bill is four years late. When the Liberals took over the government in 1993, they knew then that the plan was in trouble. Instead of assuming its responsibilities, the government focused on improving the retirement fund, but did not change the rules for disability benefits or contributions.
Had the current Liberal government assumed its responsibilities, the increase in contributions would be minimal, and the ordinary worker would not be penalized in the contributions he makes.
Even though our party agrees with the bill, and we are in favour of the current reform, I still have some remarks, which, should the government take them into consideration, would significantly improve benefits and provide a much more comfortable retirement to recipients, the people we represent, the people who sent us here.
Let us take a look at death benefits. Low income workers are often not protected by life insurance. Still, their families have a right, just like any other Quebecker or Canadian, to plan a decent funeral. The proposed reform provides for death benefits equivalent to six times the actual retirement benefits, up to a maximum of $2,500. The plan that we have in Quebec is much more generous, since the maximum allowed is $3,350. Yet, the premiums paid are the same.
I now come to the issue of disability benefits. The federal government is experiencing a lot of problems with the disability benefit program.
In September, the Auditor General of Canada, Denis Desautels, blamed the government for the unjustified escalation of the costs relating to disability benefits. He said the increase was the result of regulations that are too lax as regards disability benefits. Disability benefits should be paid only to people who cannot perform any remunerative work and for whom there is absolutely no possibility of being cured, given current medical knowledge. If the federal government adopted such a position, it would make the auditor general happy and the plan would be in better shape.
My purpose is not to penalize workers when they get sick. However, there are other social programs in Canada, and also private insurance programs, that cover disability. The purpose of a pension plan is to allow a contributor to retire or get financial support if he or she is incapable of performing any type of work.
Let us now look at premiums. The current contribution rate is 5.85%. The bill proposes to raise the rate to 6% in 1997, which will then reach a maximum of 9.9% by the year 2003, and remain at that level until the year 2010.
As I pointed out at the beginning, if the government had taken its responsibilities in 1993, the increase would not be so drastic and the plan would be in better shape. However, under the circumstances, we have no choice but to increase contributions, if we want to reduce the intergenerational unfairness by making baby boomers who, on average, will work for another 20 years or so, pay contributions that are more in line with the benefits they will get when they retire.
I have a warning for the government about the public pension plan. Millions of provincial government employees have agreed to receive reduced benefits from their private pension plan when they turn 65 and start receiving CPP or CPQ benefits. They agreed to such a cut because, at age 65, old age security was expected to make up for it.
But there is a snag: the current Minister of Finance plans to change the rules of the game by turning the existing old age security into a seniors' benefit by the year 2001.
I am aware that this remark concerns neither the existing nor the proposed Canada pension plan. But when dealing with the issue of retirement, we must make sure that the various plans are consistent. Count on me to remind the government of this fact when the time comes to calculate old age security based on family income.
The fourth point I would like to address concerns the auditor of the board. All these contributions collected and invested will have to be kept safe. The auditor should be appointed for five years and only be removed for just cause. In addition, the minister should cause a special examination to be carried out in respect of the operations of the board or any of its subsidiaries every six years. It would also be important that the governor in council be able to make regulations respecting the investments the board or its subsidiaries may make by ensuring that the end result is the maximum return for the pension fund.
To conclude, the bill currently before us is a good bill for the citizens of Canada and Quebec. However, some amendments are absolutely essential and I hope that the amendments proposed by my party, the Bloc Quebecois, will be accepted when the bill is reviewed clause by clause.
What the Bloc Quebecois wants is simply that there be better distributive justice, that there be concern for the underprivileged, for the people who have fears, for the elderly who are alone in their kitchens and worry that the fund might not always be there for them.
What the Bloc Quebecois wants is more fairness. We want to ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes and that there will not be two social classes in Canada. The rich are getting richer and driving bigger cars, while the poor are getting poorer. We should ask ourselves whether there would be enough money available to improve Canada's social programs if the 62,000 profitable companies that paid no taxes had paid their fair share.
One after the other, our big banks are announcing record profits. This is outrageous. If banks paid their fair share in taxes on their profits and stopped crushing poor workers by pulling the plug when they can no longer pay their mortgage or by repossessing their cars when they cannot make their payments, perhaps there would be better distributive justice and we would be able to avoid the contribution rate increases we are seeing today in Canada's social programs.
So this is what our party is calling for and I hope that our amendments will be seriously considered by this government if it really has a heart and soul.