Scott Duvall

[Canada Pension Plan, November 17th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree with the member that the CPP has to be changed. It is time. We have to make sure our children are looked after. There was a flaw in the CPP legislation, and it was changed, I believe, in the 1970s. Women were being penalized for leaving the labour market to raise their children, and when it came time to collect their pensions, that was used against them because they were not paying into it during those years.

At that time, the Liberal government, under Pierre Trudeau, fixed it by adding a dropout provision to make sure they would not be penalized, and it has been working ever since. He did the same thing for people with disabilities. They were out of the workforce through no fault of their own. They could not work, but were also penalized. The fix has been working well. For the last three days, we have been asking why this was omitted in the enhancement.

I will ask the hon. member this. Why are the Liberals so proud of bringing forward a bill that proposes an enhancement to the CPP that would help a lot of people in the future, but takes a step back on the rights of women and people with disabilities? It is a step backward.

[Canada Pension Plan, November 17th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree with my colleague that the CPP has to be enhanced. There have to be changes for our future, for our children and our grandchildren. It is much needed.

However, the member mentioned in his speech that he was so proud that a person by the name of Kevin could really be proud and the enhancement would help him going forward. However, he eliminated Susie, Jane, and Margaret who could be penalized if they raise their children. They will not have the same benefit.

It is a bad mistake and we have to fix it. The Liberals omitted it, and I am not sure if they did it on purpose, but it has to be fixed.

I am asking the member if he will support this going in to the enhancement part so that the people with disabilities and people who are raising their children will not be penalized, like Kevin will not be.

[Canada Pension Plan, November 17th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we certainly agree that there has to be a change to the Canada pension plan. I certainly support that. However, on the last couple of questions I have asked, it seems as if the members over there are saying that they cannot speak on behalf of the government. I have a news flash. They are the government.

What really bothers me is that we agree with them that the enhancements need to be done for our future, for our children. However, there is a drop-out clause in the existing CPP and it affects women who are raising their children people with disabilities so they are not penalized. We call that a “drop-out rate”. However, it is omitted in the enhancements. That would cause a penalty for something we have always looked after. It is either an honest mistake, or it is omitted purposely.

Therefore, will the member solely support our amendment that will come forward at committee, bringing those drop-out periods into the enhancements? It is a simple yes or no. It is not “I can't speak on behalf of the government”. I would appreciate that.

[Canada Pension Plan, November 17th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy about the proposed changes to the CPP, because it is the right thing to do. I agree with my colleague.

However, in the existing plan, there is what is called a dropout period for people raising children and for people living with disabilities. When they are collecting their disability benefit, they are not penalized, and when they average their pension, they are not penalized for that time. That is their protection. However, in the enhancement we are talking about, it has been omitted. This will penalize women and people with disabilities even further down the road.

I have heard other members say that they are not going to speak for the government. They have been silent on this. I would like the member's comments on making sure that the dropout period is put in with the enhancement, because it is the right thing to do.

[Canada Pension Plan, November 17th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree with my colleague that the CPP does need to be changed. It has gone on too long. We are caught in this little retirement problem because no changes were made to it previously, so it is good news to hear. However, it does not go far enough. It would not do anything for people now, but it would do something for people in the future. It might help my daughters, or it could help my grandchildren, for sure.

The problem is the child-rearing dropouts and the disability dropouts, which are provisions that we have now in the existing CPP. They are still there. However, the enhancements that the Liberals are so proud are going to help people would be omitted in the enhancements part. That would penalize women and people on disability.

I keep asking this every day, and nobody is answering me. I need an answer, and so do Canadians. On that mistake, are the Liberals going to put it back in and make sure people are not penalized? That way we can all go on, married happily ever after, and say we got a good deal on the CPP.

[Canada Pension Plan, November 17th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the speech by the member for Brampton East. We certainly agree with him that we need an enhancement to the CPP. However, there is an important part missing in this, and that is the child rearing and disabilities drop-out period that is in the existing CPP, but for some reason has been omitted in the enhancement by the government. As the member and I have heard from many stakeholders and organizations, this is a critical part. We need to know the answer. Has the government made a mistake and is it going to fix it by putting the drop-out periods into the enhancement, and will it support that?

[Pensions, November 16th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, after two days of our raising the issue in the House, it is obvious that the Liberals forgot to consider the needs of women and people living with disabilities in their legislation to expand the Canada pension plan. Stakeholders and union leaders agree that Bill C-26 is flawed because of the omission of the drop-out provision for these groups. It is a simple fix. We are proposing changes and asking for the current government's support.

Instead of rushing this expansion into law, will the government take the time to fix it by accepting our proposed amendments and make this right for all Canadians?

[Canada Pension Plan, November 14th, 2016]

Madam Speaker, the member mentioned the cost to small and medium-sized businesses that this bill would introduce. He mentioned that it would be about $2,200, if I understood him correctly. That is the maximum contribution to get the maximum benefit, but most small and medium-sized businesses would not actually pay for that maximum premium.

Has the member done an analysis of what the average cost would be for small and medium-sized businesses, instead of exaggerating what the maximum is going to be?

[Canada Pension Plan, November 14th, 2016]

Madam Speaker, I have heard from many organizations, retirees, labour groups, citizens in my riding and across Canada. They want improvements to the Canada pension plan. I also heard from them say that they needed improvements for the existing pensioners now.

As we have heard in the House, some people think what has been done under GIS is adequate, but I do not think that. Many organizations saying this said the same thing in 2014 when the Conservatives had a consultation paper on target benefit pensions. The same people were saying that we should improve the Canada pension plan.

Does the member agree with these people, that Canadians want to improve Canada pension plan, or does he feel it is not necessary?

[Canada Pension Plan, November 14th, 2016]

Madam Speaker, one of the things the member mentioned is to give people a choice. In the last 20 years we have done nothing to the Canada pension plan and that is why we are in this mess. Nothing has been done. Obviously there was no money left for people to save or to put into RRSPs, but they can look forward to the future by investing in themselves as they are working and their life goes forward.

I know the hon. member has said to let the people decide for themselves, let the people decide where they want their income to be, but there is no income. We have to look after our future and if we do not do it now, because we have already learned from our mistakes, we must do it for the next generation.

Why has nothing been done in the last 20 years where the system has failed and yet the member still opposes the bill going into the future?