Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to continue the debate on Bill S-3. I listened closely to the comments made by my colleague for Fraser Valley and of course the Reform Party endorses what he says, that we do not like this bill coming to us via the Senate. The bill should have been introduced here in the House of Commons. In that way the government could get the real views of the official opposition rather than the view of some senator who has been firmly entrenched down the hall for many years.
That being said, the bill does have some good points. The Reform Party is not unduly opposed to this particular bill. It will regularize and strengthen pension plan supervision by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions to ensure that the plan holder's funds are protected as best as possible and managed as best as possible.
In this day and age of small business wanting to provide better benefits to their employees, it will allow small business to set up pension plans at a much reduced cost by basically adopting a template that is laid out by the government, by administering it themselves rather than a trustee and so on.
These things of course we endorse in the Reform Party because we believe that strengthening the free enterprise system is beneficial. Strengthening benefits to employees is beneficial. To provide them with job security and real benefits in their employment is beneficial and this plan goes a long way in doing that.
It also deals with the issue of surpluses in plans. Some plans have done very well in the stock market of late. Of course, it is not just pension plans that have done well in the stock market these last number of years. Individuals, as well, have made all kinds of money.
Bill S-3 deals with distributing surpluses. It says that if there is a vote of two-thirds of the members in favour of a particular proposal then that proposal will take effect. If the proposal is to return the surplus to the employer, then that is exactly what will happen and the employer will have a refund of its contributions, or even have access to the surplus in the plan even though it did not contribute to it in the first place. That is done by vote of the membership and it is a reasonably democratic process which I do not think we would have fault with under most circumstances.
However, there is one particular circumstance that does come to my attention which is the conflict of interest for the Minister of Finance. The first thing we have to point out is that the motion introducing Bill S-3 in the House of Commons was a motion proposed by the Minister of Finance. That gives me a bit of concern because the Minister of Finance, as we know, is a very successful businessman, as well as being the Minister of Finance and a parliamentarian.
It is common knowledge that the minister was the president of the Canada Steamship Lines and is a major shareholder in that organization. Like many employers, Canada Steamship Lines has a pension plan for the benefit of its members which has a surplus that I am sure most people would be proud of. It has a surplus in excess of $100 million. The question is: Where does that surplus belong?
Bill S-3 will create a process by which the ownership of the company can have access to the fund. I believe that the Minister of Finance has placed himself in a conflict of interest position by virtue of the fact that he proposed the bill. His company, and he personally as a major shareholder of that company, could potentially benefit from this bill once it passes the House of Commons.
We talked to the ethics commissioner and he felt that it really would not have any impact on the Minister of Finance because his pension was registered under a different act. We thought that if that was what the ethics commissioner told us, then perhaps that was the end of the story. We have faith in the ethics of the ethics commissioner, or I thought we had faith in the ethics of the ethics commissioner.
However, over the years we have raised some serious doubts about that very point right here as members of the opposition. I again raise the issue because the financial statements of the Pension Fund Society of Canada Steamship Lines Limited annual report, December 31, 1996, state that the plan is registered under the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985, registration No. 55006. Bill S-3 amends the Pension Benefits Standards Act.
Therefore, the ethics commissioner is absolutely wrong or he does not know his ethics. That is a serious point.
To further strengthen my argument, I took a look at the bulletins put out by the CSL pension fund. The October 1997 bulletin regarding the plan surplus states:
We expect Bill S-3 to be passed as early as December but more likely in early 1998. The regulations which ultimately will accompany the bill are not likely to be submitted until after its passage. Until we see the regulations we cannot determine how the Society will be affected.
It goes on to state:
We can only reiterate our previous advice that as yet there has been no decision to proceed with a surplus distribution proposal and no surplus distribution proposal will occur without advice to members and full consultation and agreement thereafter.
The bulletin is from the plan to its members and specifically refers to the fact that Bill S-3 is very much in control of their pension plan. Therefore, the ethics commissioner is quite wrong in advising us to the contrary. Also it quite specifically refers to the fact that they intend to have a distribution after the passage of Bill S-3.
I come back to my point that the motion to have the House deal with Bill S-3 was introduced by the Minister of Finance. I think the Minister of Finance should clarify his position regarding Bill S-3.
While he has brought down budgets and balanced the budget of the Government of Canada, which is a great achievement on his part, we would not want his reputation to be tarnished in any way, shape or form by the fact that he has allowed his office, his position and himself to be compromised by a small thing such as Bill S-3.
As I said, the Minister of Finance, first, owes this House an explanation as to why he introduced the bill and why it was not introduced by anyone else. I understand that the Minister of Industry introduced a bill in the previous parliament. It was virtually identical to this bill and it was introduced by the Minister of Industry. Why the change?
At the same time, I think that the Minister of Finance would not do anybody a service if he voted on this bill when it comes up for a vote. These are important issues.
In conclusion, the fact that it comes from the Senate is an affront to this place. The technical part of the bill has significant merit, but it also has dealings with Canada Steamship Lines of which, as we know, the Minister of Finance is a major shareholder.
By virtue of the documents that I have quoted from here today, there is no doubt whatsoever that the pension plan of Canada Steamship Lines is governed by the Pension Benefits Standards Act and the intent after this bill goes through is to introduce a motion to distribute the surplus which, as I mentioned, is in excess of $100 million and somebody stands to benefit a great deal.
That is why I would hope that the Minister of Finance would explain his position to this House.