Thank you very much for the question.
In the whole pension debate, we reject the notion that this is a payroll tax. Pension contributions by workers and employers throughout their lives are not a payroll tax, it's deferring a portion of one's wages for the inevitable, when we all retire. That's the first point.
Secondly, the notion that the economy in Canada could not withstand a CPP premium hike—we say CPP, because there won't be a private-sector solution to the sponsorship of defined-benefit plans—that it would be injurious to the economy.... That did not happen when Mr. Martin increased premiums to stabilize the fund in the late nineties, and there's new evidence that the government is in possession of that. That wouldn't be derelict to the economy right now.
There are two separate issues at play here. Do we want to take positive steps to arrest youth unemployment, and secondly, throughout our working lives.... Somebody mentioned before we started today the financial literacy task force that was chaired by the former head of Sun Life, his name escapes me right now—Don Stewart. I appeared in Winnipeg in front of him.
We think it's a prudent move, a conservative move. It's fairly radical to think that people should start working and at age 40 start thinking about retirement. We're much more conservative in the trade union movement. We believe there should be no debate that all of us should start saving for retirement from the day we begin working, with a contribution from ourselves as workers and a contribution from employers.
A separate issue is the shockingly high rates of youth unemployment, and we think other measures need to be happening.
The last thing I'll say is that we bargain on behalf of young workers. They don't have the same benefits as full-time workers, but we like to bargain for a living wage for young workers. In Gatineau, we went to the Quebec labour board and asked why 1,200 swimming instructors could not be represented by CUPE. We succeeded in front of the pay equity tribunal in Quebec. They went from $10 an hour to $18 an hour, and $18 an hour is not an extreme wage for the certifications required to be an instructor, and secondly to pay for university.