Madam Speaker, I appreciate why my hon. colleague who spoke just prior to me became so upset. I will not use the same words unless I get as upset as him, but what we see today is a government embarking upon the taking of money that belongs to Canadians.
We have to ask some fundamental questions about Bill C-78 at second reading. What does the bill do and to whom in the Canadian community? Let us talk about what it does. It takes the proceeds of pensionable earnings and reinvests them in the way the government wants instead of returning the money to individuals.
It is important for people to understand that the government can take the money, invest it or do with it whatever it wants. That means investing that surplus in multinational corporations or in whatever way the government would choose, not necessarily in the way the people who have paid into the fund would like to see the investment take place.
Let us ask who is affected. It includes everyone who has ever worked for the public service. Military personnel, the people who are currently fighting in Kosovo, the peacekeepers who have done the country proud and have ennobled the nation, are affected. The RCMP is affected. People who keep our streets safe and keep peace, order and good government are affected. The widows of our public servants are affected. There is an old saying in the Bible about taking the widow's mite. Those women are affected and women who have worked in the public service whose average annual pension income is about $9,600 are affected.
We are not talking about multimillionaires who are affected by the legislation. We are talking about average workers who have worked hard for their country in public service. They are the ones who are affected.
What will the legislation do to them? It certainly will not pay back to them the surplus from the funds invested by their hard work. We are opposing it because there is no provision to give this money back to the workers. The women earning $9,600 annually from her pension will not benefit from the government bill. In fact she will suffer directly because of it. Money that could go to improve her standard of living will instead go to whom? Perhaps the government could answer that question for us.
What does the bill say about priorities? What does it say about the government's commitment to community economic development? I will speak from my own riding's perspective because the vast majority of people in my riding are seniors.
Because of government policy many young people in the Atlantic region and in northern regions of the country leave for areas of high employment because of the high unemployment in those areas. That leaves retirees in those communities. That leaves in those communities people like the individuals I have already mentioned: people in the RCMP, military personnel who retire in the Atlantic region, widows of those who have worked for the public service or other retirees.
Because of changes to the employment insurance act in my own riding over the last seven or eight years over $30 million has been taken out of the economy in the form of employment insurance because of cuts.
The government now has an opportunity to say to the retirees in my community and in like communities across the country that is has a huge surplus in the pension fund and will make sure those people who paid for it reap some of the benefits.
If those people reap the benefits, then so do the small business owners on main street of every city in the country where there are retirees in the population. Those retirees will take the additional funds, to which we in the NDP believe they are entitled, and will invest them in their communities through purchasing power. This will create jobs in small communities and ensure the survival of small communities to some measure.
It is a small step the government could take to establish its commitment to economic survival of small communities. Unfortunately the government lacks either the courage or the foresight to take that step, or it is simply not a priority for it to ensure the survival of small communities by making sure that people who have lived in those communities all their lives or retire to those communities reinvest a part of the surplus to which they are entitled in those communities.
Many things could be said about the legislation. The government will say that the opposition is being unduly harsh and critical of the bill, is nit-picking at the bill, and perhaps not giving as clear an indication as it might. There is an opportunity for the government to rebut, but the government has chosen to invoke closure yet again on a most important piece of legislation.
If members of the opposition are somehow distorting the facts, if we are somehow incorrect, I challenge the government to put the bill forward and allow proper time for debate so that it can rebut the arguments we put forward. The government does not want to do that and we have to ask why. I think it is because the arguments put forward by members like me, by members of my party who oppose the bill, and by other members of the opposition cannot be rebutted by the government.
Why else would it shut down debate on an incredibly complex piece of legislation after four hours? This is the Kraft Dinner way of making law: put it in the microwave, turn it on for 30 seconds and hope it is done. We are not making a Kraft Dinner. We are making fundamental changes to legislation which affects individuals in every part of the country.
If we are incorrect in our analysis of it, I dare the government to come forward with its own facts and figures to rebut us. Rather than do that, it closes down debate. This is the second time I have had to address and bring the government to its heels on the issue of closure. The last time had to do with fundamental complex legislation.
It is not as if parliament does not have time to debate it. We spend hours in the House on many different pieces of legislation. When it comes to investing and taking money from a fund, the government does not want to talk about it. It invokes closure. I have not used the other word, but I am simply saying that the government is taking funds from something into which Canadian taxpayers have paid and to which we believe they are entitled.
Parliament was designed so that representatives of communities across the country could debate serious issues. This is among the most serious. When the government is playing with the financial gain of the workers of the country and we limit it to four hours debate, it is disrespectful of members of the Canadian public because it is their money, future and investment upon which we are limiting debate.
The bill talks to three issues. First, it talks about whom the government sets as a priority in its thinking. It is not the men and women of the public service, the surplus of whose pension funds is being taken away from them.
Second, it speaks to the priorities of the government in terms of community economic development. Clearly that is not a priority because we could reinvest those funds back into smaller communities.
Third, it speaks to the government's commitment to democratic debate in an open forum. Sadly the government's record on that issue is a failure.
On each of those counts I am afraid we have to give the government a failing grade. We are not alone in this regard. If we look at newspaper articles or happen to walk around Ottawa these days, we see normally mild mannered Canadians who respect the law and parliament carrying placards. They would just as soon be at work or at home getting their gardens ready. I am sure this is happening in other cities.
They know something is fundamentally wrong. They know the government is taking their money. They know they are entitled to the benefits. They are just making enough money to survive. They want to reinvest that money in their own families and their communities. It is a shame the government will not let them, and it is a shame it will close debate on this issue.