Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques for his very important question. I think that the government is showing contempt. Let me explain what I mean.
I will use another analogy, namely that of the White Birch Paper Stadacona mill in Beauport—Limoilou. Mill workers unfortunately lost part of their pension fund after a contribution shortfall on the part of management. In essence, premiums paid by workers were not deposited into the fund.
The situation we have here is somewhat similar. When spread over a number of years, whether or not contributions are made or obligations met may seem harmless. Tabling technical legislation should be an annual obligation. However, when we consider a period of 10 or 15 years, there is a great deal of ground to make up.
Let me make another analogy, because I love doing that. Imagine a bank putting up with a person not making mortgage payments over a 10-year period. You can be sure that if the bank decided it had cut the person enough slack, demanding all at once 10 years’ worth of outstanding payments, plus interest, would represent a fairly substantial sum of money.
This illustrates the extent to which the government has failed to assume its responsibilities and lacks perspective and consideration for Canadian taxpayers.