Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Contrary to Mr. Wallace, I intend to support the bill. I just want to clarify one point. Mr. Page says he has no answer to certain questions but his team met with our researchers and my assistant. My colleague, Mr. Plamondon, was also in attendance. His team had many questions to ask about the bill. Our answers to these questions can be found in his own document.
He talks about the eligible group. We explained that it includes all retirees receiving funding from a registered pension plan. We talked about qualifying conditions. The Bloc Québecois said that pension income must have been reduced due to financial distress of the sponsoring firm. Other questions related to benefits and to the refundable tax credit. I was surprised when he said that he did not know whether or not the tax credit was refundable. We are talking about a 22% refundable tax credit on the lost portion of pension income.
As to transferability to surviving spouses, his team did not ask any specific questions about that. My answer is that the tax credit is transferable, not at a rate of 100%, but part of the credit would be transferable to surviving spouses.
We gave the answers, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to clarify this point for the benefit of our colleagues.