Mr. Chairman, we are almost there, but not quite. We talked about tax rates in different provinces. However, I am specifically referring to clause 6, the severance allowance which is being offered. I am talking about the equality offered there in comparison to the MP pension plan currently in place.
If my memory serves me correctly, regardless of whether a person works for Eaton's or the Bay, in Nova Scotia, in Calgary or wherever in this country, they participate in the same pension plan. It is an actuarial requirement. It is actuarially required that every employee participate in the same plan. But in the House of Commons there is this inequality that we have designed for ourselves, where we have different members paying different amounts and receiving different benefits. It is a very small plan. There are only 301 members.
I would like to put it to the minister again. To make it an actuarially sound plan, would it not be better to bring in a plan by which all members of parliament would receive a pension plan that is comparable to the private sector? At the same time as being comparable, it would level the playing field for all members of the House of Commons so that we would not have the situation where we have 301 members and probably five or six different categories of pension benefits available to us.