Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak today to Bill C-37, an act to amend the Canadian Forces Superannuation Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts. You will have understood that this is, quite simply, a modernization of the Canadian Forces pension plan.
That is exactly what it is, a bill to update a pension plan badly in need of improvement. WIth the improvements in this bill, the plan will move closer to the pension plan currently available to the Canadian public service.
The most important changes are the following: provision of a pension for members of the reserve; reduction of the number of years required for eligibility; enhanced transferability of pension credits; eligibility no longer tied to period of engagement; pension after 25 years service.
Let us look a little closer at this. Reservists will, at last, no longer be left out, and it is high time there was such a change. This bill finally entitles them to pensions, which was not previously the case. This is a good thing: finally acknowledging the work of the men and women of the reserve.
In future, given the serious recruitment problem it is experiencing, the Canadian Forces will have to depend increasingly on reservists for its various missions and operations, both here and abroad.
Since military service in the reserve is voluntary here in Canada, the Canadian Forces need to make reserve service as attractive and worthwhile as possible.
We are of the opinion, therefore, that making reservists eligible for the same pension as members of the regular forces will make the reserve more attractive and as a result able to play a more vital role in augmenting, maintaining and mobilizing the armed forces.
Calling upon the federal government to improve the situation of the reserve forces is nothing new, nor is the demand for them to be treated as members of the regular forces.
Pension coverage for reserve force members was studied in detail in the late 1980s. The study resulted in the introduction of the reserve force retirement gratuity program, an initiative that, in effect, is a form of severance pay. This program was considered to be a reasonable and effective alternative to a traditional pension, given the reserve force work patterns and the fact that most reserve members typically have full-time duties and pension plans with other employers.
Pressures continued, however, for the implementation of more conventional pension arrangements for reserve members. The Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs recommended the creation of “a real pension plan” for Canada's Reserve Force in its 1998 Quality of Life report.
Subsequently, as part of the 1999 federal pension reform initiative, Parliament approved amendments to the Canadian Forces Superannuation Act to allow the establishment of a reserve pension plan through regulations.
This goes to show that the government did not invent anything. The Bloc Quebecois applauds the fact that the federal government finally put these recommendations into a bill, but at the same time we wonder why it took so long do so. Nearly five years have gone by since the Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs made the recommendation. Perhaps the effective strength of the reserve force would be greater if these recommendations had been acted on earlier.
In the same vein, much remains to be done with respect to recognizing the work of reservists. In the navy, reservists are too few and lack the training and experience to man all coastal defence vessels. As a result, many vessels are forced to stay in berth.
As for the army, it cannot man all vehicles, for lack of trained personnel. The reserve force could be a major asset in this case.
Finally, the air force is facing a serious shortage of pilots. However, it draws heavily on its retired personnel as a source of trained personnel. In the air force, reservists are often relegated to administrative duties. All this definitely needs to be reviewed.
All this to say that the changes proposed in this bill to improve the lives of reservists are all very good, but are just a first step. We only have to look at the latest requirements in terms of domestic security and defence to realize that the need for more trained and well-equipped reservists will surface sooner or later.
Therefore, the role of reservists will have to be reviewed and changed, based on our new needs. The time may have come to review our defence policy in order to reconsider the role of the reserve.
Let us now turn briefly to the reduction of the vesting period and the portaability of pension credits. That can get a bit more technical. The vesting period is the minimum period for qualifying for a pension. Right now, that period is 10 years, compared to 2 years in the federal public service.
The bill would bring the current requirements in line with what is provided for in the federal public service, which is a good thing. The Bloc Quebecois totally agrees with this new measure, which would allow soldiers to more qualify sooner for a pension and bring their pension plan in line with the federal public service pension plan.
On this issue of portability, the bill would allow soldiers entitled to a deferred pension to transfer the actuarial value of their pension to a prescribed retirement savings plan when they leave the armed forces. That is also a very thing, in our view.
Another interesting feature of this bill is that pension eligibility is being dissociated from terms of service. This means that the concept of period of engagement—a familiar term in the military world and one with intimate links to pension benefits—is being set aside and replaced by a pension system based on accumulated years of pensionable service.
To simplify things, we could compare the periods of engagement now used in the forces with fixed-term contracts in the civilian world. We can say that, until now, this system has perhaps help to retain some military personnel who are still fit for duty, but it has become clear that the system is not adapted to short-term or intermittent assignments which are sometimes necessary to support military operations today.
This new approach will also make re-enlistment easier since there should be no penalty for those who want to leave the armed forces. For example, a soldier could have temporary absences without losing his accumulated pension credits. In a period when recruitment and retention appear to be increasingly difficult for the Canadian Forces, such a measure would certainly make the task of the Department of National Defence somewhat easier, as it watches its personnel numbers drop well below the figures in the 1994 White Paper on Defence, which has still not been updated.
There is another measure which, at first glance, might also appear to be a way to encourage retention of military personnel, but which could just as well be a discouraging factor for those who wish to enlist. I am speaking of the new measure which would grant a pension after 25 years of military service, rather than 20, as is now the case.
This measure, which is the most remarkable one in the whole bill, is nothing short of a small revolution within the Canadian Forces. This measure would only apply to new recruits, which could leave to some envy. We are told that people who have already signed on for 20 years, will receive their pension after 20 years as planned, if they so wish. But, future members will not be entitled to receive their pension until after their 25th year of service. They are being asked to stay five extra years in the forces. This almost has the look of a two tier system, or a sort of orphan clause for new arrivals to the forces.
We realize that this is merely a way of retaining new members in the Canadian Forces a little longer and of increasing the numbers. As far as we can see, there is still a problem with recruiting.
Did the last intensive recruiting campaign, with bonuses for people in specialized fields, not go as planned? Is the number of members who are leaving the forces higher than in previous years? Is it really for these reasons that it was decided that pensionable service would increase from 20 to 25 years? We may never get the real answers.
Whatever the case may be, it is clear there is still a lot of work to be done to make the Canadian Forces more appealing. Its members' quality of life is, and will remain, the focus of our concern. Several thousands of Quebeckers are members of the Canadian Forces and they deserve all our attention. Whether they are stationed in Canada or abroad, their standard of living and well-being have to be protected. It is not because enlisting in the military is a personal and voluntary choice that we should neglect them.
The Bloc Quebecois will continue to be vigilant to ensure that current and future Quebec soldiers in the Canadian Forces are well treated.
Upon examination, we find that this bill is a good step toward improving the quality of life of our military personnel. That is why the Bloc Quebecois supports the principle of this bill.
However, some aspects will require further examination, such as the possibility that the government will use regulations to legislate various components in the bill. One of these days we should perhaps examine the Liberal government's new approach to legislation which increasingly allows the Governor in Council to legislate using regulations instead of consulting parliamentarians in the House of Commons.
The explanation will be that it is much faster and more effective, but is it truly more democratic?