Yes, it did. Go back and look at the speech.
It included a suggestion that MPs look after their own pensions, which is no better than the private sector. Five per cent of that money should go into a pension if they choose to and five per cent matched by the government. It should be no better than the private sector. That is the pension portion of my compensation package for MPs. The Liberals can twist and bend all they want. If it is a choice it would be an investment.
The finance minister and this minister argue that the CPP increase to 10 per cent is an investment. If it is compulsory by the government it is a tax. If the rate is set by the government it is a tax. In opposition they called it a payroll tax. Now they are calling it an investment.
The government is very hypocritical. I question its logic on raising the CPP. There are concerns with the CPP. People are worried that money will not be there for them, but the logic is that the fund is $39 billion now. The deficit annually is about $1 billion and could go to $2 billion in any given year so the premium has to be raised.
Why did they overreact? Why did they not just raise the premium to 7 per cent? At the same time, because payroll taxes cost jobs, why did they not lower the unemployment insurance premium from the high lofty numbers? That fund has a fat $5 billion sitting in it which is soon to grow to $10 billion. They should lower the unemployment insurance premium, raise this other one if it is in jeopardy and keep the same two-year fund that is required instead of increasing it to five.
They have overreacted. They have increased the taxes too much. It is too great a burden on the economy to increase the taxes by that much. By not reducing the unemployment fund which they are
using to lower the deficit they will actually kill jobs. Their strategy of creating jobs is sadly lacking.