Thank you.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am very pleased that you are able to be here today.
In the Bloc Québécois, we are very concerned about the fate of workers and the economically disadvantaged. In principle, there is some government protection in the form of the Guaranteed Income Supplement, even though we are well aware of the problem of low retirement income and possible pension income losses.
For several years now, the Bloc Québécois has been able to secure the passage of a number of private members' bills that propose increasing the GIS, given that the Canadian government is keeping seniors' income below the poverty line. So, at the end of the consultations that are now underway, I hope that one of the first actions the government will consider is an increase in the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
Having said that, I would like to discuss pensions. We do not all need the Guaranteed Income Supplement. Some people are able, through their employment, to accumulate a comfortable pension on which to live on as they grow older. In January of 2009, legislation was passed in Quebec to ensure that the pension funds of bankrupt companies would be taken over by the Quebec Pension Plan, the equivalent of which in Canada is the Canada Pension Plan. That legislation is not yet in effect, because the regulations have still not been passed. It is very recent; it has been around for about a year. Because this hasn't been discussed by any of you, I would like to ask whether you think this is an option the government may want to pursue for its own pension plan—we talked about the current amount in there—namely, taking over the pension plans of companies that fail?
I would ask that each of you comment on that potential solution. I hope it was clear in the translation.