That is radical, as my friend says.
What is happening, for those who are not aware, is that Bill C-11 will create a new Cape Breton Development Corporation, the purpose of which essentially will be to administer pensions, to deal with remediation and to deal with ongoing litigation. It will be a company that will gradually reduce in size as the obligations of the government through the crown corporation cease.
We thought, why not have people from the community sit on the board of directors? It makes sense to me. The government will say that five of the current seven directors are from Cape Breton. That is fair enough, but it is not mandated in the new legislation. Why not mandate it? That is the first recommendation.
For some reason the Liberal members on the natural resources committee had a problem with that. Every Liberal voted against an amendment similar to that, while all members of the opposition parties thought it was a good idea. It was not just those of us from Cape Breton, it was members of the Canadian Alliance, members of the Conservative Party and members of the Bloc, all of whom said “It makes sense to us to have local people sit on the board”.
The second radical proposal is that there be a residency requirement ensuring that a majority of the directors of Devco live on Cape Breton Island in the communities affected by the corporation's decisions.
As a member of parliament I have been lobbied by groups on this issue, and individuals who appeared before the committee asked that a member of the workers' pension association sit on the board or committee which will administer the pensions. I was questioned by members of the Liberal Party on this issue. They asked “Why would you want someone from the pensioners' association to sit on the board that administers the pensions?” As I understand it, currently that pension fund is administered by a brokerage house in Montreal, which turns a considerable profit. I think it is something in the vicinity of $7 million or $8 million a year. I explained that in Cape Breton we have the kind of history, the kind of culture, in which we believe in helping each other out. Many members of the pensioners' association would like to see some of the profits which are earned as a result of their pension funds being invested put back into the communities in which they live, put back into the communities where their children work, put back into the communities where their grandchildren go to school.
They have been arguing for some time to have a say in that, to open the books to see what is happening with their pension fund. They have not been able to. I believe there is a court action pending. They said “We don't like what the government is doing to Devco, but if it is going to do it anyway”—and it is—“and if the government can open the door for at least some improvements, why not allow that?”
I have much more to say, but since I only have one minute left I will say that I had an opportunity to examine the speech which the Prime Minister gave in Berlin. This will be the new Liberal platform. They are going to run from the left again. Let me say to the people who want to read this document that if they compare the Prime Minister's words in Berlin to the actions of the Minister of Natural Resources today with Bill C-11, as the government refuses to support communities directing their own future as it withdraws, they will see that the actions of the Liberals speak louder than words.