Mr. Speaker, the member is right. At one time the salaries of judges and members of Parliament were linked. For various reasons, in a Parliament before my time as an elected member of Parliament, the decision was made to delink them.
We have seen the commission's recommendations for a 10.8% raise, which would amount to a $52,600 raise retroactive to 2004. I want to remind hon. members and make a point in mentioning that raise that according to Statistics Canada the median family income in 2004 was $54,100.
As parliamentarians, it is our constitutional authority and our constitutional responsibility to ultimately control the public purse. We have heard the commission's recommendations. We have adopted all but two of them. We have modified the recommendation for a 10.8%--