Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Minister, for coming today. I really appreciate it and the update you gave us.
There are many concerns across Canada on how this plan will be implemented going into the future. We've heard a lot of rumours, but now you're here today to try to put some of those rumours to bed.
As you know, seven out of 10 working Canadians have no workplace pension. We see the value of doing something for an enhancement, especially with the Canada Pension Plan, but when I look at what is being proposed here, it certainly does not go far enough, and I'll tell you why: under this plan, you would have to begin at the age of about 16 years to get the maximum benefits when you retire. Not until 2025 will you be fully due it, so you'd have to work about 40 years to get the maximum benefit.
The problem with the maximum benefit is that we're talking about maximum costs and income, but many people on average do not get the maximum benefit even now. People are getting an average of about $684. We keep talking about $16,000 when that's not even close to it. The reason is that many factories have closed down, pensions have wound up, and layoffs have occurred. People have nothing else to go to but precarious jobs or part-time jobs, which pay little and require premiums to get any kind of maximum benefit.
My question to you is this. This may be a great thing for our grandchildren and our children who are starting out to work, but we need to know what will happen to the people who are near retirement now and will face those problems. Where's the benefit for them, and how will this increase? In Hamilton it has hit us dearly, especially with the manufacturing jobs that have broken down and the number of jobs out there that are paying people a third to half their wage.
I've been listening to people out there, when I've gone door to door in Hamilton, and many of them think, with the way this has been promoted, that there's an increase coming for them under the Canada Pension Plan. They're already retired. I'm not sure where the information on that is coming from. How are we going to do that? We need a clear breakdown from the government on who will benefit the most, who will benefit the least, how these changes will interact with other programs, and how we will strengthen workplace pension plans.
Perhaps you could start from there.