Madam Speaker, if ever there was a loaded or leading question that would probably be it.
If my hon. colleague from Cypress Hills—Grasslands truly expects me to answer that, we will have to have a beer and talk that one over in private. I am not prepared to make statements like that in the House of Commons.
The question from my colleague does give me an opportunity to let him know that I do recall that when we first arrived here after the fall election of 1993, my good friend from Cypress Hills—Grasslands, my colleague from Prince George—Peace River and myself went over to pay and benefits. We said that we wanted to get out of the pension plan. The people in pay and benefits, after they had quit laughing and had picked themselves up off the floor, said that nobody gets out of this pension plan. They said that there was no way for anyone to get out of the pension plan. They told us that we were in it and that was all there was to it.
There has been a lot of talk tonight about all the Canadian Alliance members being in the pension plan. I would just like to point out to you, Madam Speaker, and I know that you have a grasp on this, no one is vested in this plan until they have served six years.
At this point, I do not think it is entirely accurate to say that the Canadian Alliance people are in the pension plan. They are making contributions to a pension plan that will absolutely ruin their RRSP eligibility which will be all but taken up by the contributions to this registered plan. Therefore, to say that all the Canadian Alliance members are in the plan is absolutely inaccurate. There will be no more Canadian Alliance members in this plan than there are at the moment. Members will only be in once they have served their six years.