Finance Committee on Sept. 19th, 2016

[Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Liberal, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

But we're also moving away from, for instance, a pay-as-you-go model to more of a long-term model here.

[Glenn Purves]

That's right. There are two reasons for that. One is that any enhancement is supposed to be done on a fully funded basis, so it's more about income replacement than anything else. The longer you contribute to that plan, the higher your retirement benefit will be. Those principles are very much akin to what you would see in a registered pension plan in the private sector as well.

[Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Liberal, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I have another question. I was just wondering about the working income tax benefit. Could you give me the number of the number of Canadians who will potentially benefit from it?

[Miodrag Jovanovic]

There are currently about 1.5 million individuals benefiting from the working income tax benefit. Many of those same individuals will benefit from the expansion. I don't have a precise number as to how many more, if there are more, but I think that by and large they are going to be the same individuals.

[Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Liberal, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I have just one final question, Mr. Chair.

We have, I think, around 250,000 to 260,000 federal employees. I was wondering what the cost to the treasury would be in increasing the CPP. Would you have that number?

[Miodrag Jovanovic]

Do you mean just for the federal employees?

[Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Liberal, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Yes.

[Miodrag Jovanovic]

I don't have that number, but we can have an estimation.

[Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Liberal, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Okay, thank you. That information can be sent to the clerk.

Mr. Duvall, you have the last questions.

[Scott Duvall, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Thank you.

There's word out there that some of the provinces have expressed concerns about the new plan and the effect it's going to have on low-income people. Some provinces are complaining about the effect on businesses. Have there been any unresolved issues with the provincial governments that the federal government must address before implementing the proposed changes to the CPP, and if so, how are they going to go about doing that?

[Glenn Purves]

In June there were eight signatories to the CPP enhancement. Manitoba joined as well, so that brings it to nine. Then Quebec gave its support to the enhancement, although it's going to be doing its own consultations.

Since then, there have been no issues to report. There have been items identified by provinces as being important to look at as part of the triennial review that I discussed earlier. Manitoba identified some issues that will be tabled, and certainly other provinces will want to look at these issues as well, but the triennial review and these issues have much more to do with the CPP in general. The fact is that this plan would not be in place until 2019, and we continue to have regular dialogue with our colleagues. Again, at the officials level there's a CPP committee, and at the political level there are ongoing discussions with colleagues.

[Scott Duvall, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Then there are no conditions from any of the provinces that must be met prior to implementation?

[Glenn Purves]

As I said, there is a process for the CPP enhancement to be put in place, which is clearly laid out in the CPP Act. Legislation will be tabled, and that will be followed by provincial orders in council and then a federal OIC.

[Scott Duvall, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

With that, we will call it a day.

Thank you, Ms. Anderson and gentlemen, for coming before the committee to answer questions.

To the members who are also on the subcommittee, there is a meeting this afternoon at 3:30 and there are pre-budget consultations tomorrow at 3:30. That should keep everybody happy.

Thank you very much.

The meeting is adjourned.