Thank you, Mr. Chair.
With your permission I'm going to ask two separate groups two questions and then have people respond.
First, I want to say thanks to all the panellists. You did an absolutely wonderful job. I've learned a lot, and thank you so much for making the time to come here today.
My first question is for the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, Ms. Gray. I live in a downtown west riding. I represent Davenport. We have a lot of seniors there. They are desperate to try to continue to afford to live in an area in which they spent most of their adult lives. They deal with a lot of issues around affordability and around senior isolation, so a lot of what you spoke to resonates with me.
I'd love for you to respond to two things, and I have two quick questions. One is about how our government has committed to lowering the retirement age from 67 to 65. How will that benefit seniors and the overall Canadian economy? That's the first part of my question for you.
The second part is, as was mentioned today in one of the presentations, the Ontario government has introduced a new pension plan and the federal government is committed to working not only with Ontario but indeed at the national level on an enhanced CPP. Can you talk to us about how an enhanced national CPP will benefit your members? Those are my questions for you.
If I can, I'd also like to direct a question to Mr. Kelly of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. In my riding I also have an extraordinarily vibrant and innovative class of businesses. They are small businesses. They're wonderful. They're energetic. They're breathing huge amounts of life and innovation into the Davenport community. One of the things that has surprised me—and I will confess it's what you list on page 5—is the shortage of qualified labour. I find it interesting that at a time when we have a lot of youth looking for jobs, we have unemployment, we have a lot of programs in place from apprenticeships to trades, I find it remarkable that is one of the top five issues. What federal actions can be taken in this area?
I'd love to hear from you, and that's it, Mr. Chair.