Thank you, Mr. Chair. This provides further opportunity to discuss the issue of pooled registered pension plans.
The Liberal Party believes that PRPPs are an additional tool for Canadians saving for retirement, but we're concerned that the government may be ultimately overselling the benefit. We don't agree with the NDP that the PRPPs do not provide any additional benefit to Canadians saving for retirement, but we do have some concerns.
We don't agree with a mandatory CPP increase at this time because of what still remains stubbornly high unemployment, particularly in some regions, as you break out the unemployment rates across the country. At the same time, we believe an optional voluntary supplemental CPP in addition to the PRPP would be good public policy. It would help provide Canadians with, among other things, an additional option in terms of their savings.
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is well managed. It achieves a very low cost of management, largely due to the size of the asset base being managed, which I think is around $155 billion. It is well diversified across asset class—everything from natural resource investments to private and public equities to infrastructure. It's well diversified in terms of geography. The Canada Pension Plan has become one of the most impressive vehicles for global investment, reach, and influence on behalf of Canada around the world, in addition to other Canadian sovereign wealth funds, including AIMCo, teachers' pension plans, OMERS.
Mr. Chair, what we have proposed is a voluntary supplemental CPP in addition to the PRPP. One of the benefits would be that by providing that kind of competition, you would potentially have a really well-managed and well-diversified option for Canadians. It's an option that Canadians would have trust in. It would potentially encourage greater levels of savings.
The first decision a Canadian has is how much they want to contribute, if in fact they can. One of the challenges, Mr. Chair, with any voluntary plan is that left to their own devices, particularly cash-strapped Canadians, at a time when personal debt as a percentage of income for families is around 161%, find it really tough to save, and not enough savings are occurring.
When Canadians make the decision to save for retirement, the decision of where to invest is a big one. While the PRPPs are one option, having a voluntary supplemental CPP would provide what I believe would be a lower-cost option in terms of potential fees being charged ultimately to investors and future Canadian retirees. Therefore, the offering of a voluntary supplemental CPP would help keep fees on the PRPPs low. All members of the committee, the Conservatives included, will appreciate that there is a benefit to providing a low-cost, well-managed, highly diversified alternative.
Mr. Chair, the Canadian Association of Retired People, CARP, recently appeared before this committee, and they have supported our Liberal plan to have a voluntary supplemental CPP. Additionally, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the CFIB, has endorsed the plan to have a voluntary supplemental CPP option.
I reiterate, Mr. Chair, this is not instead of PRPPs. This would be in addition to PRPPs and would potentially actually strengthen the option for Canadians. Again, with the endorsement of several national organizations, we would hope the committee would have—