Thank you for your question.
Mr. Whitehouse from the OECD has prepared a report based on the data from the Department of Finance. According to this report, which is on the department's website, the typical RRSP cost is around 2% right now. Mr. Whitehouse has concluded that, during a full life cycle, 37% of a person's savings goes to management fees. So the person is left with only 63% in savings.
We have to remember that, in Quebec, the simplified pension plan that was created 10 years ago, had the same objective, meaning to set up plans to be managed by the industry, but accessible to employers. After 10 years, we can see that the gains have been very modest. All the assets in simplified pension plans have the same scope as those in the average pension plan. It might be possible to reduce costs, but so far the rules of competition have stood in the way. In addition, the same players will administer registered pension plans. So I can't see what would motivate them to lower costs, since the regulations do not specify the criteria for a low-cost plan.