Status of Women committee  I believe we have agreements in place with around 50 countries right now. We can give you that list if it would be helpful.

Status of Women committee  No. I think we have to look at each agreement in detail and the actual provisions within it. I would assume it has to do with their residency requirements as well as ours, and a matching of them. I haven't read any of them, but I expect there's a fair bit of detail around that. We could endeavour to provide you with the list of the countries and perhaps some of the relevant provisions, if that would be helpful.

Status of Women committee  I think they're called social security agreements.

Status of Women committee  The national child benefit has continued. There has been continued investment in the national child benefit. In both 2005 and 2006 there were increased investments in that regard. I think it's worth noting a couple of statistics, one of which is that I believe the employment rate overall, for all Canadians but also for women, is the highest it has been in 30 years.

Status of Women committee  I'm not aware of any allowance per se, but a provision within the Canada Pension Plan allows for a dropout from contributions without losing the ability to continue to build your pension through the CPP. So you can withdraw from the labour force and not contribute to the CPP, but you are able to offset that...I'm not explaining this particularly well.

Status of Women committee  Your pension benefit. That's correct.

Status of Women committee  The Government of Canada has a number of programs and initiatives currently in place that target low-income Canadians. They also have a number of policies and approaches in place that lead to a vibrant economy. As we all know, a good economy is a good source of economic security for all, including women.

Status of Women committee  If I recall your question, it had to do with what work had been done looking into various proposed changes to the EI program. I think I've got them down here. One was to eliminate the two-week waiting period. I'm not sure if there has been work done in this area or not. Nobody is here from the employment insurance—

Status of Women committee  I'm not familiar with any studies that have been done with regard to the cost of expanding the survivors benefit. It's not an area directly within my responsibility, but certainly I would endeavour to go back and confirm whether or not there has been any work done on that. I'll provide it back to you if that is the case.

Status of Women committee  I'll have a bit of a go at it.

Status of Women committee  Okay. If we start with seniors, the low-income rate for seniors has come down considerably. The low-income rate for seniors is currently at 6.1%. That's acknowledging that it's higher for women. The rate has dropped since 1996, when it was at 9.8%. It was at 16.3%, I believe, in 1989.

Status of Women committee  I'll give it a go, but experts here may be able to do it more clearly. The way the benefit has been constructed is that it is phased in over a period of time. So for every dollar that you earn over $3,000, you would earn an additional, I think, 20 cents on the dollar. So instead of earning $1, you would earn $1.20, until you get up to $5,500 of earned income, at which point you would be earning $500 extra through the WITB.

Status of Women committee  I believe it's going to be a monthly payment. Is that correct?

Status of Women committee  I'll start, but perhaps my colleagues from Finance can jump in and help as well. There are two real objectives the WITB serves to address. First of all, as you mentioned, it helps encourage people to enter the labour market. But it also has a second benefit, which is to reward those people who are already in the labour market and are not earning a lot.

Status of Women committee  With regard to the guaranteed income supplement, as you know, it has made a good contribution to reducing the low-income rate of seniors, many of whom are women. Recently—I believe it was in 1995—there was an increase of $18 a month for single seniors and $29 a month for couples.