Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the House for the opportunity to speak to this important bill today on behalf of our party.
I note that the parliamentary secretary who spoke earlier failed to mention exactly how the pension plan came about. For his memory, and many others in the House, if it were not for people like J.S. Woodsworth, M.J. Caldwell, Tommy Douglas or Stanley Knowles, we would not even be having this conversation today. It was these gentlemen, and many others in the labour movement, the church movement and in social movements throughout the country who fought tooth and nail to convince Conservative and Liberal governments of the importance of a pension plan to offset the high cost of living and to ensure that all Canadians had a semblance of a moderate and decent way of life in their most elder years when they retired from their working years.
It was in 1966 when that came about. Again, if it was not for those great leaders, and I add new democratic leaders, we would not have this debate today. I wish to acknowledge their sincerity and hard work over the years in bringing a pension plan and the efforts of a pension plan to Canada.
The reality is there were parties that opposed the pension plan historically, the Liberals and the Conservatives. I am quite sure if the Alliance Party was here back then, it would have opposed it as well. When we hear the Liberals stand up and now say they will do things to improve it or offset and protect Canadians across the country, we have to take it almost tongue in cheek.
It was not too long ago that the federal Liberal government, and I cannot say the word stole, took close to $30 billion of surplus funds out of the federal public service and used that money for other means. The fact is that was not its money to play with. That surplus money belonged to public civil servants who are now retired and to those who are currently working. That money was not the Liberal government's to play with, but it did.
It still leaves a sour taste in people who are now retired and the federal superannuation organizations, for example CARP. Many people who work in the federal civil service will never forgive the Liberal government for taking the money that rightfully belonged to them and putting it toward other purposes.
Speaking of pensions, we have our firefighters from across the country who come here on a yearly basis and throw a really good reception for all of us. They also lobby us very hard. One of the concerns they push tooth and nail for is the right and the ability to put more of their own money into a pension plan. They want to increase their allotment to 2.33%. A simple transaction would make this happen. Why has the Liberal government not moved on this easy request from the firefighters?
When the Liberals talk about pensions and everything else we have to go on what they are acting upon or what they are not doing. We take their words with a large grain of salt. The firefighters have been demanding, asking and pleading for this one little clause to be changed so that they themselves who have physically and emotionally demanding jobs can retire with a semblance of a decent pension, and they would do it with their own money. The government completely ignores their requests. When the government cannot do something that simple we kind of wonder what else it does.
While I am on the topic I wish to mention veterans and their spouses. When veterans of World War II or Korea pass away their spouses get a pension for a year and then that is it. Why is that? Why do we treat the spouse and family members of a veteran so callously? Everyone knows that when a veteran served in our armed forces or went overseas there was someone back home who looked after the home fires. They wear the clear ribbon which means they are the invisible fourth arm of the military. Those spouses back home are just as much a part of the military effort as the person who served overseas. They should not be cut off from any pension or face reductions just because the veteran has passed on. That pension should be carried on to the widow or the widower until that individual passes on. This is something that these groups have been asking for many years. Still the government says no, it closes doors with cold shoulders.
Another example is just as amazing. When seniors get the CPP and OAS at 65, if there is an increase to the OAS, the CPP goes down. If there is an increase to the CPP of a few dollars, the old age security goes down. Why is that? For the sake of a few dollars and a few small percentage points of an increase trying to give our retired people in the country a bit of a breather not only on high taxation but the high cost of living, the government gives with one hand and then takes it back with another. It is incredible that it continues to do this. I have outlined four different areas of various pension concerns that we have raised continuously on this side of the House to that side of the House and those concerns are completely ignored.
I wish to comment on the recent concern of this particular pension fund. Years ago a member of the House said an arm's length agency eventually becomes out of reach. That is exactly what this would do. Moneys that go into the pension plan come from employers and employees. It should be the employers and employees of this country who decide what should happen to that pension plan, as well as any surplus plan.
The legislation would set up a board of directors. I wonder how many people from the Canadian Labour Congress are part of this association. I wonder how many people from retired seniors groups are part of this association. I wonder how many people from retired, social or active church groups are part of this association. None at all. That is simply unacceptable.
The fact is it is our money. It is pension money and it is being invested in foreign stock markets and foreign entities without consulting the people of Canada. Now as this arm's length agency gets further and further away from the halls of Parliament we will know even less of what is being done in the near future.
To my colleagues of the Alliance Party who wish to have more of this public money invested overseas, would they be recommending we invest in Talisman, WorldCom, Enron, or any of those companies around the world, especially in the United States, that have a complete disregard for their own employees and their own environmental concerns around the world? I say not.
I will give credit to the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. There is a clause in its regulations that says it has to invest in its domestic economy within the province. That is something that this particular pension plan that is now with a private agency should have as well. There should be a debate in the House of Commons as to what should happen to any surplus moneys. We should also be investing within our provinces, within Canadian companies, and within our own borders.
Capital venture funds and those kinds of things would be great to invest in to assist our Canadian companies and, for example, various labour groups and associations and small and medium sized businesses. It would provide opportunities to have access to funding, to grow businesses and the economy within our own borders. To invest in offshore or overseas companies does not do any good because we know they have no ethical background or, for that matter, moral background as to how that money should be invested.
We could be investing in companies that develop nuclear weaponry. We could be investing in companies that have complete disregard for the environment. I could not help but notice in the papers today that more companies are quoted as doing some pretty nasty environmental work and things of that nature in other companies around the world. Those are companies that none of our pension moneys should be invested in. That is simply nonsense.
It is kind of ironic that we in the House of Commons are discussing the Kyoto protocol and how we will clean up the earth and reduce greenhouse gases, et cetera. Yet the pension moneys that we are talking about could be invested in companies that pollute our planet, that increase greenhouse gases, that increase the damage to our environment and our planet. I am sure Canadians would be shocked and appalled if they knew that their public money was going into companies that do this.
We completely disagree with the Alliance Party in this regard. This is Canadian pension money. It should be invested within Canadian borders. It should be invested for the good of all Canadians and not for the good of foreign interests outside our borders. It is simply unacceptable.
The NDP opposes the bill unless a strict mandate along with other things are included. Ethical screening should be in place and reviewed by the House of Commons or at least by the finance committee. It is money that belongs to Canadians. They have a right to know where that money is going and exactly what it is doing for them.
High risk ventures do not often pan out. We have seen what has happened to the stock market. Thousands of employees at Enron and WorldCom have lost their pension fund and their place of employment and everything else. Why? The reason is because of a few unscrupulous people who looked after themselves and their friends and completely ignored the concerns of the workers and everyone else. That is something that the NDP completely opposes.
A pension plan is more or less a social safety net. People want to be guaranteed and assured that when they retire that money is there for them.
People are told to invest in RRSPs, RESPs and in the stock market when they are young and working. They are told to look after themselves. They should do everything they can to invest their own money and not rely on the government's pension plan because it will not be there for them when they retire. Why in the world would we promote that type of attitude? Why in the world would we promote the idea that the government's pension plan, which is the pension plan of Canadians, will not be there when people retire?
Many thousands of Canadian families do not have enough money at the end of the month to save privately. They are trying to get their kids through school, pay their bills, their taxes and everything else. Many Canadians fall behind on a monthly basis. A lot of them do not have money to save as others may have. When they retire they will require and desperately need the pension plan. It is up to us to ensure that the pension plan is there for as long as we are here and as long as this government is running, and as long as this country is still standing so we can look after our seniors and those who require a pension plan in order to move forward in their lives.
There are a lot of people in Canada who are disabled and require the CPP disability pension for them to carry on with their lives. Someone who is working and suddenly becomes permanently disabled has to go through a horrendous fight and struggle to obtain the Canada disability pension. It is amazing. I am sure there is not one MP in the House of Commons who has not had to work on three or four of these kinds of files on a monthly basis. It is a difficult thing for these people to go through. We are now hearing concerns from people who are being cut off their disability tax credits and everything else.
It should not be a burdensome thing for Canadians to apply for the disability pension plan. It should not be difficult for individuals who have been in a severe car accident and have two medical reports, one from a general practitioner and the other from a specialist, saying that they have lost both their legs or they have lost an arm, or they have become blind, or become deaf or whatever. Why is it that bureaucrats in Ottawa make it difficult for them to achieve some sort of semblance in their life when it comes to a minimum pension plan so that they can carry on for the rest of their life? We cannot continue on that way.
People like our former colleagues John Solomon and Nelson Riis and many other members of Parliament throughout the history of the NDP have stood up and raised the issues of what is happening to the pension plan, where the money is going and everything else.
There must be ethical screening for this money. It must be controlled by the House of Commons. Members of Parliament should have frequent debates on where that money is going, how it is being invested, and what it is doing. If there are surpluses, which we anticipate there may be in the future, the NDP would ensure that those surpluses would benefit retired people and those people who would soon be entering into the pension plan.
Over the last few years people have seen a slight reduction of EI premiums on their pay cheques but they also have seen a massive increase in their CPP deductions. In terms of take home pay, there has been no benefit to Canadians in that regard.
The CPP deduction is extremely important and we would like people to stop calling it a tax on wages. If properly, morally and ethically invested, the fund could be there to ensure that all Canadians, when they retire from the workforce, would have a pension plan on which they could rely and which would ensure them that they could stay in their homes and not have to go into what we used to call the poorhouse.
We oppose the continuation of this arm's length agency because we know that eventually it will be out of reach. It will not have to answer to parliamentarians and many stakeholder groups will not be part of the decision making.
On behalf of the NDP, we want to ensure that all the money is properly accounted for and is there for people who are collecting pensions now and for people who will collect pensions in the future.
I will go back to the firefighters. We want to encourage the government to quickly put in the 2.33% allotment for which the firefighters have been asking. We want the government to ensure that the spouses of those veterans who have passed on have the full pension plan until the day they pass on. We want to ensure that if there is an increase in CPP and OAS premiums that it will not affect seniors.
We want to ensure that investment of this money is done on moral and ethical grounds. The money should be invested into capital venture labour funds, for example, to benefit all Canadians. The government can get advice from organizations like the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Canadian Labour Congress and various church organizations and social groups throughout the country. They can encourage and give advice to the government on what to do with the surpluses or how to invest that money to ensure a proper security and income return on that pension plan so it is there in perpetuity.
