Madam Speaker, let us understand that whether you are 16 or 60 the Canada pension plan will be there for you when you retire. Those who say otherwise are mistaken and those who wish otherwise are wrong.
Ultimately this is about values. You either believe in the CPP or you do not. The government does. The Reform Party does not. The Reform Party can talk about its plans to destroy the CPP. The government will talk about what we have done to preserve it.
The member for Calgary—Nose Hill has said in recent radio shows that we need to look at perhaps getting some of this unfunded liability out of the general tax revenues.
Paying off the outstanding obligations year by year as they come due would require a $20 billion to $75 billion payment each year over the next 60 to 70 years. Paying off the outstanding obligations over 30 years would require almost a doubling of GST or a 25% increase in personal income tax. Which taxes do the Reform Party want to increase to pay these outstanding obligations?
Canadians have told the government that they want the burden to be spread evenly across generations. If no changes were made, our children and grandchildren would be asked to pay 14.2%. Some claim, as the Reform Party does often, that young people are getting a raw deal from the CPP changes. Young Canadians will get 50 cents for every dollar they invest.
This type of statement is incorrect. The fact is that all CPP contributors, present and future, will receive more from the CPP than they pay in. Young people will receive $1.80 for every dollar of contributions. The return could be higher if we as Canadians were prepared to renege on existing contributions for today's seniors and for those who have been paying into the CPP for years.
The federal government and the provinces as joint stewards of the CPP will honour all commitments made to Canadians in the fairest way possible. The government will not renege on our obligations to Canadians as the Reform Party will do.