Thank you very much for your question.
As you know, retirement has been a matter of concern for several years now in Canada. It was difficult to decide how to improve the situation for Canadians. We know that company pension plans are not as common as in the past. That is one of the reasons we began our campaign over a year ago. We wanted to tell Canadians that the Canada Pension Plan had to be improved.
In December, I began discussions with my provincial colleagues in order to determine how we could improve things. We had good, open discussions. Everyone agreed that we have to find a way to improve the situation.
After a few months and some important analysis by our department and the provinces, we concluded that we had to find a way forward. With the provinces, we decided that a significant increase would be needed in the future, but that the changes had to be made gradually. That was important to us and of course to the provinces. We had to make sure that the change would not be too radical for small and medium-sized enterprises, that it was implemented gradually, and that it would benefit people in the future.
It wasn't easy, but it is an important issue and I am pleased that we have found a way forward.