Ted Menzies

[Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act, June 7th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, staying on subject, I think what the member actually wanted to ask me is, why is it that the Liberals and the NDP are not standing up for Canadians, the Canadians who do not have a pension plan they can count on?

If I were a Canadian watching this debate, I would be quite aghast at that sort of comment that, once again, is simply about process. That hon. member and obviously the rest of the opposition have completely forgotten what we are here for. We are here to help Canadians, not debate process.

[Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act, June 7th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, the hon. member raises a very good question, which is, how well protected are seniors' investments?

We had a very serious conversation with our provincial partners. We were putting forward a Canadian or a common securities regulator. We put forward the legislation to be able to protect those investments. Unfortunately, the opposition members voted against that. They did not see far enough down the road to see that they were leaving investors vulnerable.

The question the member asked me might not have happened if we had a common securities regulator in place, that not only makes it simpler for businesses that want to invest in this country and employ more Canadians, but helps protect investments that are already made, whether they are in pension funds or mutual funds.

However, I guess the opposition really does not care about protecting Canadians' money.

[Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act, June 7th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague, not only for his work on this matter, but for a very intuitive question. This is the challenge that many small businesses have dealt with. They have raised this with us in our consultations. They want to be able to provide some assistance. Not every business, but many businesses said, “We want to be able to help provide an option for our employees.”

New companies starting up and many of the long-time companies would like to offer a pension option to their employees. However, for the type of registered plan that most employers can offer, the employer carries the fiduciary responsibility. If something does not go right with that investment, who are the employees going to blame? They are going to blame their employer.

That is the beauty of the pooled registered pension plan. All the employer would have to do is offer it to his or her employees. The fiduciary responsibility would be on the pension plan provider.

[Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act, June 7th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, it is very easy to answer “yes” to that, because we have actually held the consultations.

We recognized the challenges that future retirees were facing, early in 2008. Our finance minister recognized that, and he asked two pension experts, retirement experts, to draft consultation papers for the federal-provincial-territorial finance ministers to scrutinize in December 2008.

This is before the NDP ever thought there were any issues with retirement. We started consulting then with the provinces, our partners in this. The consultation has already taken place all across this country. I have travelled to every province and every territory in this country to consult with those who have been impacted and will be impacted. This is the consensus that comes from the provinces and the federal government, and it is exactly what Canadians are asking for.

[Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act, June 7th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, I, too, shall try to keep my answers brief, and I appreciate that.

However, I do want to reflect on the fact that we actually have a question on substance, and that is what we should be talking about. We should use every minute we have in this House to actually talk about substantive issues.

The hon. member asked a very good question. As part of our consultation, we looked at whether there should be an increase to the Canada pension plan. Our officials in the finance departments of all the provinces and territories, as well as the federal finance department, are still looking at options in order to ensure the Canada pension plan reflects the new environment we are living in.

However, we also looked at a voluntary supplementary Canada pension plan. We actually talked to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and asked the question outright: could it accommodate a voluntary supplementary pension plan? They said, not without increasing the cost.

That is why we are putting forward a low-cost, very accessible pension option for the 60% of Canadians who now do not have that option.

[Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act, June 7th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, I chastised my Liberal colleague for not talking about substance and now I see that you have provided latitude to the following questioners to actually get into the substance of it, which is good because we should be talking about that. That is what Canadians want us to talk about here. Can we provide a better option for people to help save for their own retirement? The answer is, yes. We put forward pooled registered pension plans as an option for that. That did not just come out of my mind. That was through extensive consultation with seniors and actuaries across this country who provided very sound advice on how we could best help Canadians save for themselves. It also included very extensive consultations with all of the provinces.

The hon. member should know, with her experience in dealing with provincial legislatures, that we do not have the authority to make an arbitrary change to the Canada pension plan without two-thirds of the provinces agreeing, as well as two-thirds of the population in those provinces agreeing to make a change. We did not have that. What we did have was unanimous consent from all the finance ministers from all across this country to pursue the framework for a pool registered pension plan. That is what we are doing.

[Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act, June 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, why is it that the hon. member can only talk about process? There is ample opportunity to debate today. He could have asked me a question about the substance of a pooled registered pension plan, how it works, how it will help Canadians or how it will provide another option for them. What does he ask? He asks a process question, probably identical to the one that he has asked every other time that he has stood in the House.

I did not get elected by telling my constituents I would come here and debate process. I told them I would come here and debate substance and do what is right for Canadians.

[Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act, June 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, we realize the urgency of getting this pooled registered pension plan in place because the provinces, frankly, are waiting for it. Quebec is one province that has a large number of people who do not have a workplace pension plan at this time. The Quebec finance minister, Raymond Bachand, and I have had many discussions about this and he continually urges me to get this through our legislative process. I suggest that it is very critical that we get this done. Frankly, the only people who have written to me who say that pooled registered pension plans are not a very good option that we should be pursuing are those who now have a pension.

I am here to push this forward to ensure we provide an option for the 60% of Canadians in the workforce who do not have the luxury of a pension plan.

[The Economy, June 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP should be putting Canadians ahead of its interests. Canadians are telling us that they are getting tired of the NDP members constantly talking down our economy, and not only talking it down, but actually voting against it. They are voting to kill jobs. They are trying to stop our budget implementation bill and economic action plan 2012 which would put in place an extension for a hiring credit for small businesses that encourages businesses to employ more Canadians. They are voting against new funding for skills and jobs training. They are voting against new funding for infrastructure. They are voting against new support to encourage responsible resource development.

[The Economy, June 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I might observe that actually the last three budgets we put in place have helped the Canadian economy grow over 750,000 net new jobs. That is pretty important. For those people who are working now who were not working at the end of the recession, that is pretty good news.

The sad part is that whatever policy we put forward to help with long-term prosperity, with job growth, with growing this economy, it is opposed by the NDP.