Clause 13 is on the rollover to a registered disability savings plan after the death of a registered retirement savings plan or registered retirement income fund annuitant or a member of a registered pension plan. I think, in fact, members of the NDP, even though they may disagree with pooled registered pensions plans, may agree with the merits of this individual clause in terms of its effect on people with respect to fairness to survivors.
It also gives us an opportunity, Mr. Chair, to consider further this whole issue of whether we are helping Canadians adequately prepare for retirement. This demographic shift is going to impose on governments federally, provincially, and even municipally, and on Canadian households, tremendous burdens in the future.
I'll say frankly that the impact of the demographic shift on the well-being of Canadian citizens is going to be quite different depending on the province you're in. In a province like Nova Scotia and in the Maritimes, where we are teetering on a declining population and an aging population concurrently, there is going to be a very different burden than there will be in a province like Alberta or Saskatchewan, where there is a younger population.
The challenge when we're designing these types of plans is to ask whether they're actually going to help families across the board. That is an important question. It not only has an impact in terms of the consideration of how progressive the measure is; it has an impact on the regions if, in fact, in some regions there are a larger number of low-income seniors. Specifically in the Maritimes, we have a lot of senior citizens. We are seeing a lot of our younger citizens moving to other parts of the country.
I was in Fort McMurray, in fact, in Mr. Jean's riding, over the weekend, and I saw a lot of fine Atlantic Canadians. He and his mother gave me a drive, in fact, to my Liberal event, which was very fine of him, and to the McMurray Newfoundlanders Club.
I want to say that while I congratulate Fort McMurray and I congratulate Alberta for its success, it's important to recognize that before people had the vision, foresight, and wisdom to put oil and gas under the ground, there were some challenges out there too, so it's important that we, as legislators, consider all regions of the country in the design of these kinds of measures.
The reality from a demographic shift perspective is that in the Maritimes—and Quebec is facing some similar challenges—where you have an aging population and a population teetering on decline, retirement savings vehicles are critically important. My concern is that PRPPs are being oversold, and a lot of organizations and groups think they're going to solve every problem. I really don't think they will. In the same way, RRSPs—and for the record, I support RRSPs and the PRPP options—are not addressing this aspect.
What we really have to consider in terms of retirement security for Canadians is not always simply focusing on what is there for those who can afford to retire. As legislators, we have to be considering what is going to be there for those who can't afford to pay into plans right now. The burden of responsibility on us in this place, regardless of partisan affiliation, is to think of those most vulnerable. What I'm concerned about is the lack of discussion about those people who are not making enough to contribute to either RRSPs or pooled registered pension plans.
I would hope that the Conservatives and all members of this committee would endeavour to address what continues to be, according to the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, and even the CFIB and other national organizations, a supplemental—