Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask a question of the hon. member who has just spoken. Naturally the bill is a step forward. However I would like to know if she believes that it should be retroactive.
We are enacting this bill because many workers have been wronged in recent years. There has been the phenomenon of globalization and the transfer of many economic activities to China. Would it not therefore be reasonable to amend the bill so as to make it retroactive? That is my first question.
Second, those who are often forgotten about when there is a bankruptcy are the people who are already retired. For example, in my riding there are the workers of Aciers inoxydables Atlas. The company closed down in June, but there was a shortfall of $15 million in the pension fund. That means that the income of a pensioner who had been receiving $2,000 per month for ten years suddenly fell to $1,300 per month. Someone who was receiving $1,000 now receives $600 or $700. So that is a loss of income for these people who are now 72 or 75 years old and have been drawing this income for some 15 years, that is, since they retired. So they find themselves caught short because there is a temporary deficit in the pension fund.
Of course, this is a matter of provincial jurisdiction. The case of which I am speaking is the responsibility of the Régie des rentes du Québec. However, would it not be advisable to have a federal-provincial agreement, perhaps at least a transfer of federal funds to the provinces, so that we can support or bail out these pension funds? For example, the $15 million pension fund could be divided between the federal and provincial governments, under a specific agreement. That way, workers who have toiled all their lives, for 25 or 30 years, could regain the level of pension they enjoyed for years, particularly since they are in no way responsible for this closure. I am talking about Aciers inoxydables Atlas of Tracy, the head office of which has not yet declared bankruptcy.
Those are my two questions: first, do you think the government should be thinking about pension funds, and second, should it be thinking about making this bill retroactive?