Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Bourassa, who is boasting about following procedure, should be reminded of a very heated discussions he was engaged in last Thursday during Oral Questions. The only member who was called to order by the Chair was the member for Bourassa. The Speaker asked him to lower his voice.
I am not, therefore, tempted to get into a debate with him. Anyway, we are getting to know the member for Bourassa. Those listening to us know what he is like. They know he is an agitator, so I will not get into that.
I will continue, systematically and seriously, the speech I began earlier.
After the systematic theft from the employment insurance fund surplus—I am pleased to see that term did not get a rise out of the member for Bourassa. I said “systematic theft from the employment insurance fund”. We should just let him sleep on, or go on home—.
The Liberal government is trying to get its hands on the surplus that has built up in the pension funds of public service employees, as well as those that are yet to come. These are astronomical sums, to put it mildly. As of March 31, 1998, we are talking of somewhere around $30.2 billion in surplus. That is $14.9 billion for the public servants, $2.4 for the RCMP, and $12.9 for the Canadian Forces.
Our party acknowledges the necessity of ensuring the long-term viability of the system. In our opinion, it is possible to have this while respecting the thousands of Canadian and Quebec workers who have contributed to the plan. The present plan has some 275,000 people contributing to it, and 160,000 pensioners plus 52,000 surviving spouses drawing from it.
I notice, Mr. Speaker, that you are telling me I have just about 45 seconds left. It is too bad I lost the thread of my speech because of the disturbance by the professional agitator from Bourassa.
I will conclude by saying that our party will be bringing in some very serious amendments. We want to see each pension plan have a board, in keeping with the recommendation by the advisory committee report tabled in December 1996. In addition—