Mr. Speaker, it is a rather sad day today, as we are discussing Bill C-78.
The government is picking on people who already are not well off. I have looked at the statistics a bit and I found that retired public servants are currently getting about $9,000 a year.
Obviously, the funds have accumulated some surpluses. Yet, instead of trying to improve the annual income of its retirees, or lowering the contributions made by today's workers, this government is drooling at the prospect of other surpluses and is dying to get its hands on them.
I got into politics in order to do my bit for justice, and I feel obliged to speak to this bill because I see it as totally unfair.
I will start with how the government has managed public funds since the Liberals came into power in 1993, because of what is going on now. The government is patting itself on the back for having succeeded in reducing the deficit, started paying down the debt, everything is great. But we need to have a look at how this was accomplished, how the government and the Minister of Finance in particular handle the public finances.
First, they began by cutting transfer payments to the provinces. The government had some responsibilities toward them. And what did the current government do in the first years it was in power? It announced: “We are going to transfer less money”, which means that it kept more for itself.
The second thing it addressed was another surplus, the one in the employment insurance fund, an annual surplus of $6 billion to $7 billion, and an accumulated surplus of $20 billion to $25 billion. The government siphoned off the money in this fund at the expense of the workers. It then congratulated itself “See how well we are running things”.
Meanwhile, the provinces and the jobless are paying for it. They are the ones who bore the brunt of paying down the deficit. They are the ones whose contributions or cuts in benefits are being applied to paying down Canada's debt.
Pay equity is also involved. During those years, the government unfairly paid women working in the federal public service. These are the women who paid off the deficit. They are paying off the debt.
Let us now take a look at the pillage in the employee pension fund, because that is what we can call it, we are not talking about peanuts here. We are talking about $14.9 billion for the public service. A lot of these people work in my riding. There are some 200 or 300 who work in the federal public service at the Saint-Jean military base.
The RCMP will be sacrificing $2.4 billion and the Canadian armed forces, $12.9, for a total of $30.2 billion.
What we are seeing today with Bill C-78 amounts to pillaging this fund. It recalls for me unfortunate examples from the past.
This morning, as I prepared my speech, I thought of Robert Maxwell, the famous British media magnate, who travelled the oceans of the world on his huge 60 foot boat. He was one of the first to take money from pensions of his own workers.
I see the President of the Treasury Board travelling about on his own Titanic . I would remind him that the Titanic 's owners, in their arrogance and invincibility, claimed it was unsinkable. I remind the President of the Treasury Board and the members of the government, especially, of that fact and tell them that it is not too late to drop their arrogance and their thoughts of invincibility.
There will be no problem if they consider the amendments the Bloc Quebecois is proposing today, but I know that the members of the government tend to say “This is the way we are going, and you will follow us. We will let you have a few debates in the House. When it no longer suits us, and it has gone on long enough, we will call for closure”.
I appeal to government members and to the President of the Treasury Board to look at the amendments the Bloc is proposing and, for once, to drop their arrogance and their thoughts of invincibility in this House.
I consider it disdain by the majority, when it goes ahead totally oblivious of the opposition. We do represent the people of Canada and Quebec. The government should listen to the opposition a little more and make certain amendments to bills instead of heading off, visor lowered, saying “You will follow us. If you are not happy, we will use closure”.
I call on hon. members to look at the amendments moved by the Bloc Quebecois to avoid penalizing public service retirees, who currently have an annual income of about $9,000.
Let us also not forget what the President of the Treasury Board did about this issue. In 1996, an advisory committee was set up and the minister said “Make recommendations to me and we will see what we can do”. In 1998, the President of the Treasury Board said in a press release “The consultations may lead to a partnership that could result in the establishment of a management board in the public service that would be independent of the government”.
In actual fact, the first group of amendments moved by the Bloc Quebecois seek to create a management board that would deal at arm's length with the government. However, we forgot to take into account someone who may be the future leader of the Liberal Party. We forgot to take into account the Minister of Finance who, in managing the public purse, probably said to the President of the Treasury Board “My dear friend, we will look at the $30 billion surplus and we will try to get our hands on it”.
This is just as I said earlier: cuts in the transfers to the provinces and siphoning off of money from the employment insurance fund, which belongs to the unemployed. The Minister of Finance has a big say in all this, because he is the one holding the purse strings. Workers must not forget that he is probably behind this bill, even though it was introduced by his colleague, the President of the Treasury Board.
One also wonders about the signal that is being sent to private businesses. Earlier, I alluded to Mr. Maxwell who is travelling all over the world on his big boat, with his employees' pension fund.
A bill like this one will send signals if it is passed. I would propose the most striking example from my riding, that of the pillage of the fund of the former employees of the Singer company. For a number of years, the Bloc Quebecois has been trying to get through to the government and remind it of its fiduciary responsibility for this fund.
The answer we get is “No, there is no problem. No, we have no commitment in that. We were not the watchdog, settle your own problems”. We might well wonder whether these responses were conditioned by the government's intention to introduce the bill before us today.
How would it have looked if the government had told the Singer Company or if its representatives had told themselves, as those responsible for the fund, “That is right, we have a share in the responsibility. We should not have allowed the company to pillage the Singer employees' pension fund”? This however was not the government's intention. It could see the surplus that was accumulating.
It was beginning to realize that it had to take the surplus, that if it acknowledged its responsibilities toward the people at Singer, it would have to give up the surplus and ensure that it went to retired workers. We can see all the intentions of this government.
In the case of other companies as well, we have often been told by the Minister of Human Resources Development, who is responsible for the matter “There are other companies, so we cannot follow up on your request”.
This is a terrible example for private employers to follow now. They will be able to do as the government does and let workers down.
The dictatorship of the majority must stop. It is time to stop treating employees with disdain. The government has an opportunity today to set its arrogance aside. It could also set aside its great superiority and invincibility complex aside and listen to what the opposition parties have to say, include it in the bill and amend the bill to give us something potable in the future. This is not just for those now retired, but also for those who will be retiring from the public service.
The government must assume its responsibility. If the government does not do that, the Bloc Quebecois will naturally oppose Bill C-78.