Mr. Chairman, I guess most Members got a letter about some of the deductions that are going to affect the Members and staff. The Canada Pension plan for Members was raised by 2.6 per cent. The unemployment insurance premium for staff and Members was raised by 3.7 per cent. The superannuation doesn't affect us but we are getting increases in what we pay. I just wanted to say that for the record.

Last Friday, while I was watching the news, there was a report done for Parliament about MP salaries. The timing is all wrong but in the report, there was a request to increase MP salaries by up to 37 per cent because of the time they spend away from home. I wanted to let you know that. And they want to reduce the pension and double dipping. There is a lot of stuff happening at the local level about this.

For the record, I would like to say that Members up here spend a lot of time away from home. I've been a Member now for ten years, Mr. Chairman, and on the average, I've been away from home for six of those ten years. I'm not complaining about the salaries we get, but we're going to freeze everything while other jurisdictions are not doing that. I think the Ministers have taken a $5,000 cut in their salaries but no other jurisdictions have done that. We are trying to set an example, but I don't think that at the national level MPs care one way or the other what we do up here, but I think it is at our expense and at our families' expense. We have to make sacrifices as well as our families have to make sacrifices. It is not fair, you know. But, because we are pressured by the public, we sort of put ourselves in a situation where whatever we do is noble and right and where we do the public justice. But, what are we doing to ourselves as Members? Are we denying our families by doing what we are doing? It certainly sounds noble if you look at it from the public hearing you say that, but what are our families saying? We have mortgages, finances, loans that we have to pay off, and students that are going off to universities and colleges. Those all cost money, you know. Mr. Chairman, I am in a situation right now where I have to support my own children away from home. This doesn't help me one bit. Perhaps other Members have younger families that they really don't have to concern themselves about at this point in time. I want to tell the Members that putting on a freeze does have an effect on me as a Member. It does have an effect on my family, but I could live with it. I just have to tighten up my belt and live within my means, I guess.

---Laughter

But I thought I would make that point, Mr. Chairman, because I have a very difficult time doing what we are doing and thinking that maybe it is right for the public, but I certainly don't agree that it is right for me or my family. Thank you.