Thank you, Chair.
I just want to maybe add a few thoughts about this particular issue. I was going back in my notes, and I recollect...I think it was a professor from the University of Toronto who we had in. I liked what he said, because often what we hear is a lot of opinion. And opinion is great. We all have our opinions, and often they're formed by some good information. But this particular gentleman quoted the OECD, and I think he quoted at the same time the International Monetary Fund. That basically reinforced what this government has said, which is.... And it's not rocket science. When you know that at one point there were seven people supporting one retired and that's going to shift to four to one and then three to one, the writing is on the wall.
I often marvel...and I wonder if the opposition is reading the paper and seeing what's happening in countries like Greece, and it's now coming to a crisis point in Spain—countries that haven't addressed this issue. We are being warned repeatedly by organizations that have no skin in the game, when there's no reason why they wouldn't give us a fair analysis, and they're saying the same thing: we have to make adjustments. This government has done this, and not in a cutting method or a draconian way. It's giving us ample time to give people an opportunity to prepare for these changes.
It just amazes me. This is something that is so clear, so absolute, that I can't understand why it's not being embraced by the opposition.
I just want to share Paul Martin's Red Book. The Liberals love to try to take the credit for some of the good things that are happening, and rightfully, Mr. Martin made some important changes. One of the things he says in his Red Book is:
The Canadian population is growing older—first, because our birth rate for the past three decades has been below replacement....
He is saying that we have to meet this demographic challenge. This is nothing new. This is something that has been debated for many years. This government has recognized that we don't want to go down the same path that countries like Greece and Spain and Italy and Portugal have gone down. We want to do the prudent thing, and that is to make adjustments but give people enough time so that they can prepare for those adjustments.