Mr. Speaker, it is interesting as I stated earlier today that the hon. member talks about the proposal of extending this debate for six months. Members talk about the great groundswell they believe is going to occur, but it has not occurred because Canadians are generally pleased with this bill. It is everything the unions along with the employer have sat down to discuss. There was only one part where one of the unions was concerned about the surplus and wanted a percentage of it and all the rest of the items.
As we discussed earlier, it is a legislated plan. The employees and the retirees are guaranteed their pension by this government and by the taxpayers, paid by taxpayers' money.
The concern of the Reform Party, aside from the fact that many of the things were agreed on, is that we are in effect taking what belongs to Canadian taxpayers, which is an accounting entry, and reducing the debt by $30 billion over a period of time. The Reform Party does not like that. Why do they not like it? Because that is going to reduce the cost to Canadian taxpayers in interest that they pay to bondholders. Why does the Reform Party not like that? Because all of a sudden the Liberal Party is going to get credit for reducing the debt by $30 billion. Why does the Reform Party not like that? Because everything they have been talking about, everything the Reform Party is all about is being done by this government on the basis of good fiscal management.
The real problem is that the Reform Party is not only bankrupt of the platform it has carried for six years but it is now trying to steal the Conservatives' plan by uniting the right. The hon. member for St. Albert realizes we are on the right track. He would do exactly what we are doing here because the unions—