Madam Speaker, at the risk of repeating myself, I really believe that my colleagues across the way are doing their level best to scare Canadians. There is no reason in the world why we cannot have a separate disability program. No one says it has to be linked to the old Canada pension plan. Why can there not be a separate plan?
As my friend knows, people came forward from the pension industry and said that we can have a separate disability plan. They pointed out that we should be doing that because there is great confusion now among people who think that the money that goes to the Canada pension plan goes just for their pensions. Obviously that is not true. So why not separate it out?
Another point I would make is that under the current regime, the government plan pays out a whopping $465 in survivors benefits to people who are widowed. Under a mandatory RRSP the whole amount of the annuity would be paid to a surviving spouse. If the pension which was coming in was $30,000 that is how much the spouse would get. Under the government's plan they get a CPP pension of $8,800 and the survivor gets $465 a month. I do not think this plan serves widows very well in this country. In fact, I think it is an abomination.