Mr. Speaker, it is true that the Quebec public service pension plan is properly managed. It is so because of a tradition of effective negotiations with the central labour bodies in Quebec on how the plan should be managed.
It goes without saying that the government has certain prerogatives. At some point, it can say that there are problems, that the fund is accumulating more slowly, or that it owes too much money to the fund. The government will then sit down with the central labour bodies and negotiate.
The Quebec tradition in this regard is rather effective. As far as I am concerned, it is better than the federal approach I have seen for the past six years. The federal government ignores the unions, either slows down negotiations or stops them altogether and ends up pushing back to work legislation through the House.
I agree that workers should have a responsibility if there is a deficit or a surplus. But there are surpluses right now. The government did not provide the figures for the previous deficits, but we have had surpluses since 1995. I am sure that the surpluses exceed the deficits.
It is not right for the government to now take the money and say “Continue to pay. We will not improve your plan; we are only interested in taking the money”. Again, this is not right.