Madam Speaker, I listened attentively to the discourse of my distinguished colleague in the House today. He will recognize that some years ago the Government of Canada, through the excellent leadership it has been exercising, put in place the investment mechanisms we know of now.
Does the hon. member remember the previous system? It worked in a rather curious way whereby the funds accumulated on premiums were converted to loans at below prime to the provincial governments, except of course the province of Quebec which has a much better system. It has an investment fund of its own which generally speaking has worked quite well. Does my hon. colleague agree that when we put together that mechanism it was high time to put the Canada pension plan back on a sound footing?
Many years ago I was in the provincial legislature along with my hon. colleague from Halton. He and I and David Peterson who was our leader at the time often questioned the then government of Ontario about how it administered the funds. They seemed to disappear into a black hole.
Perhaps my hon. colleague would agree that unlike the U.S. social security system and perhaps those of other countries, under our government Canada's national pension plan has been put back on a proper and sound footing. First, we have done so by raising premiums as we needed to. We got the consent of the provinces to do this through a federal-provincial agreement as I am sure all members remember.
Second, we have provided for mechanisms whereby in the future income would be generated so that many years from now, Madam Speaker, when you drew CPP benefits and in many fewer years when I did, there would be funding for future generations of beneficiaries.