Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his intervention and his compassion on this issue.
As I have said, we are continuing to engage with unions and employees on this matter. As the member noted, the employees have been able to remain in the public service pension plan for the longest period allowable.
The Harper Conservatives decided to outsource the operations of AECL's nuclear laboratories. To do this, they established a long-term contract with CNL. A consequence of this contract is that these employees are not able to remain in the public service pension plan, as they are not employed by the federal government itself. As I said, we are committed to doing everything we can to offer pension protection for the impacted employees.