Mr. Speaker, here I am back today, once again, with the famous Bill C-78.
This is a huge bill, with over 200 pages, which will affect hundreds and hundreds of thousands of employees in the public service. I have the bill here. It is clearly a huge document.
The government of the Prime Minister and member for Saint-Maurice is imposing closure—four hours to deal with such a huge bill—true to the Liberals' democratic style.
This bill will allow the President of the Treasury Board and member for Hull—Aylmer to appropriate the surplus in the pension fund of 275,000 employees, just as this very same government has taken the $21 billion surplus in the employment insurance fund by digging into the pockets of those with the least, those working on hourly wage, by making it harder to obtain EI and by artificially creating revenues because contributions are too high compared to the benefits the plan pays out. So, surpluses were created, and the finance minister, the ships minister, took $21 billion.
Today, the President of the Treasury Board is preparing to take $14.9 billion from the public service pension fund, $2.4 billion from the employees of the RCMP and $12.9 billion from the pensions of the Canadian armed forces, our military. This adds up to $30.2 billion. Bill C-78, which will probably be passed this afternoon, will allow the President of the Treasury Board to take $30.2 billion.
This affects 275,000 contributors. Of course, those who contributed in the past are now benefiting from the plan. There are 160,000 retirees and 52,000 surviving spouses receiving benefits. These 212,000 people receive monthly payments totalling $3.1 billion annually, while 275,000 contributors pay $1.8 billion into the plan. The difference between what the plan takes in and what it pays out is $1.3 billion annually.
But, if the present surplus of $30.2 billion were well managed, it would bring in more than what the government pays out in monthly benefits. Public service, armed forces and RCMP employees could be given a premium holiday lasting a number of years.
I agree that this would not be a smart thing to do. But, and I am being perfectly honest here, I do not trust the government. I have seen how it treated the hourly workers of this country in its reform. I have seen how it treated the BC mine workers, who were laid off on November 1, 1997. Its track record is not good.
What is worse, this sends a clear message to the private sector that it can follow the lead of the government and the President of the Treasury Board and illegally help itself to the surpluses in employee funds. This is the message this government is sending the private sector.
This is precisely what happened to former BC mine workers, when their employer helped itself to part of the money in their pension fund, leaving some of them with a very small pension after 30 or 35 years of work. This is the sort of government we have.
In a 1998 press release, Treasury Board stated and I quote: “The President agreed with a number of the recommendations of the special advisory committee... [which] was the result of four years of dedicated work by union representatives, pensioners and government employees”.
Here we have a minister, who stated in February 1998 that he agreed with a number of the recommendations of an advisory committee on the Public Service Superannuation Act established by the government, not even recognizing the negotiations suggested in its report.
The President of Treasury Board is trampling roughshod over these recommendations and doing what he pleases. Gangway, he is coming through. And he will get his hands on a surplus to which he is not entitled.
At the present time, there are no provisions for the over $30 billion that is excess to expenditures, and Bill C-78 enables the government to get its hands on a surplus the ownership of which, while not clearly defined, is morally the property of employees and ex-employees, i.e. pensioners.
It is going to get its hands on the dough, and then what it is going to do with it? It will probably argue that it invested it to reduce our collective debt. Once again, a small group of people will be footing the bill for all Canadians, just like the hourly-paid workers of this country, who make excessive contributions to employment insurance and receive very little in the way of benefits, while the employment insurance fund has generated a surplus in excess of $21 billion over four years. The government stole this surplus to reduce the collective debt and create budget surpluses for the minister of ships, thus allowing Ottawa to spend money in provincial jurisdictions.
The government did the same thing with the millennium scholarship program and a $2.2 billion budget. It also showed disrespect for Quebec by giving the four Atlantic provinces close to $1 billion in compensation for collecting the GST, while Quebec, which has been collecting the GST since 1991 under an agreement signed by Robert Bourassa and Prime Minister Mulroney, did not get one single dollar. This is what we call a double standard.
Under Bill C-78, contributions would be deposited in retirement funds and then transferred to the Public Sector Pension Investment Board. Who will manage the board? The appointment process will be very similar to that used for the Senate. The appointees, who will be responsible for managing and administering this fund, will be friends of the government.
The President of the Treasury Board will establish an advisory committee of eight persons. He will, of course, appoint eight of his friends, who will make a list of candidates—again chosen among the minister's friends—from which the board's 12 directors will be selected.
This is how the Prime Minister appoints his friends to the Senate and to the superior court. The former president of the Liberal Party of Canada was just rewarded by being appointed to the bench in my riding.
The Prime Minister appointed to the Senate the opponent of the Bloc Quebecois leader in the last general election, Liberal candidate Aurélien Gill, for having been defeated by my colleague. He was rewarded for his sacrifice by being appointed to the Senate until the age of 75.
The President of the Treasury Board will be no better than the Prime Minister. He too will appoint friends, who often are not qualified to administer a $30 billion surplus.