Thank you, Mr. McCallum.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I have a couple of questions, but I want to go back to the issue of this CPP, voluntary or mandatory. If everybody is in agreement with voluntary, there isn't a problem, but statistics show that a lot of people have not been able to contribute to RRSPs. The only thing that will happen is that the people who have the money will voluntarily put it into the CPP, so I don't think we'll solve the problem.
Our job is to try to find perhaps a middle ground or a middle road. If we're looking at something that's going to be useful, let's say 15, 20, 25, or even 30 years down the line, can't we find a middle ground?
Ms. Swift, my experience as an accountant is that small businesses are willing to do something for their employees if it's going to help them keep their employees. In the surveys, it's too expensive. It's always too expensive for small businesses, but the complicated part is what I've always found. If we can ameliorate something that is already there, being the CPP, it doesn't necessarily have to be doubled, because I think that would be too costly for the employer, but something in the middle would probably work. Couldn't we work towards that?
Mr. Lee, in terms of what you were saying, that the public service pension is too much, that would be an area where the public service pension could be reduced, because they'll have a CPP in 15, 20, or 25 years to compensate for the additional CPP payments. So couldn't we find a middle ground, somewhere that private industry and the public would actually find a middle road?