Madam Speaker, I have a couple things to say to my hon. friend the parliamentary secretary.
I want to agree with him profoundly that the cries for justice for spouses of people who have served in the armed forces should move us particularly. Equally, it makes no sense to deny spousal benefits to other classes of civil servants and other people covered by the superannuation act. The whole notion of “marriage after 60” should be stricken from all the rules around pensions.
I do say to my hon. colleague the parliamentary secretary that it is a bit much to say that some people will say the $150 million was not adequate. Not a single penny has moved toward the people who are disadvantaged by the gold digger clause that affects the widows and survivors of our veterans. It was a sham move by the former finance minister Bill Morneau to get out of doing what he promised to do, which was to remove the clause entirely.