Finance committee  I can't guarantee that all the funds will offer the same lower costs. But I can tell you that there will be competition. Based on the consultations we've had, I can say that a number of administrators are willing to take on the challenge and offer these products. We are also confident that, with the competition there will be, the prices will drop.

Finance committee  It's because these are individual accounts and not pooled accounts.

Finance committee  The idea is to give employers another option.

Finance committee  It's a different mechanism, because the CPP is a defined benefit plan. The returns of the CPP funds are affected by market returns. However, the benefit that flows to workers is a defined benefit. So it's a guaranteed benefit. What would happen in the extreme, if you had many, many years of negative returns and the value of the funds started to climb, is that you would likely have to raise contribution rates.

Finance committee  That's the intent.

Finance committee  Well, we're certainly hearing a positive reaction to the possibility of essentially improving the benefits package that small and medium-sized businesses can offer their employees, for very little in terms of administrative and other burdens. So yes, what we're hearing is that it's an attractive option.

Finance committee  I don't have a position on this because, honestly, it's not my field. We are responsible for private pension funds, but we aren't responsible for Old Age Security.

Finance committee  This isn't necessarily the case because the administration isn't in place. For the Canada pension plan to establish accounts like the ones we're proposing here, it would need to build a whole other administration system.

Finance committee  No, we haven't done one.

Finance committee  Will it solve everything? I hope so, but perhaps I'm no so ambitious.

Finance committee  It says that the employer is not entitled to inducements when the employer chooses a plan for the employees.

Finance committee  The context of section 30 is that the administrator is liable for funds management, not the employer. The purpose of this is to clarify that the administrator is liable.

Finance committee  But…

Finance committee  The criteria essentially are going to be that you need to be able to assume the fiduciary duty to the plan members. There's just a certain number of entities that can, in practice, do that. Financial institutions, large pension funds, credit unions—

Finance committee  They're going to be required to offer some choice—that's the key word—to the plan members to invest in different funds. They're going to have three, four, or five different options each—