I do want to thank Mr. Ste-Marie. I always appreciate his perspective and his viewpoints on the important issues that come before this committee.
One of the things that I think is also very important to do is that, if we're asked to vote on a motion about the Canada pension plan, we need to do a bit of a deep dive for Canadians on what exactly the Canada pension plan is.
With that, I thought I would talk a little bit about what it does. The Canada pension plan “mandates all employed Canadians who are 18 years of age and over to contribute a prescribed portion of their earnings income (with an equal matching amount contributed by their employers) to a federally administered pension plan. The plan is administered by Employment and Social Development Canada on behalf of employees in all provinces and territories except Quebec, which operates an equivalent plan”.
We have talked about that. It's actually in the motion, in point 2. I'll just maybe revisit that so that we can confirm that.
Point 2 does say that it “Recognizes the important contribution of the Quebec Pension Plan which was established independently at the same time as the Canada Pension Plan”. That's why the plan is administered by Employment and Social Development Canada on behalf of all the provinces except for Quebec, because Quebec has its own plan, the Quebec pension plan.
This says, “Because the Constitutional authority for pensions is shared between the provincial and federal governments, stewardship for the CPP is jointly shared. As a result, major changes to the CPP (including those that alter how benefits are calculated) require the approval of at least seven Canadian provinces representing at least two-thirds of the country's population.”
That is very interesting, Mr. Chair. I don't think I realized that before.
That's really important because we're all in this together. This Canada pension plan is so important that the great minds who thought about it, who conceived of the legislation to create and give life to the Canada pension plan, decided that it should not be subject to being changed unilaterally by, for example, a single minister, like we saw, for example, in Bill C-34.
Bill C-34 gives the minister alone the authority to approve a foreign investment without the need for cabinet oversight. I have to say that, certainly, with regard to the people who drafted the CPP legislation, this provision tells me that they had wisdom. They understood that this was too big, that it would be too much power to place in the hands of any one person.
What did they do? They said that any major changes to the CPP, including those that alter how benefits are calculated, require the approval of at least seven Canadian provinces representing at least two-thirds of the country's population. That is a very high bar.
Let's see. There are about 40 million people here. Two-thirds of that is roughly about 28 million or 29 million. What is two-thirds of 40 million? It's about 25 million. I know the math is hard, but it's about 26 million or 27 million people who you would need. That's a very high bar, across seven provinces. That's a very important provision of the Canada pension plan.
I'll continue: “Provinces may choose to opt out of the Canada Pension Plan; as Quebec did in 1965, but must offer a comparable plan to its residents. Any province may establish an additional/supplementary plan anytime as under section 94A of the Canadian Constitution, pensions are a provincial responsibility.
“The CPP Fund is a professionally managed investment fund and it is overseen by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), an independent organization that reports to the federal and provincial governments. The CPPIB's investment strategy is guided by a set of principles that emphasize long-term benefits security, a focus on quality, and a commitment to sustainability and responsible investment practices. The CPPIB also regularly reports on its investment performance and activities, and is subject to oversight by the federal and provincial governments.”
As I said a little earlier, Mr. Chair, I am getting over a bit of a cold, and I'm finding it a little difficult to talk without coughing. I have to have some respect for the translators. I worry about the translators.
Hello over there. How are you? They're waving back.
Thank you very much. I want you to know that I don't want to offend your ears because of my raspy cough, so I am going to take a bit of a break to rest up.
My colleagues who can speak more clearly will take up the microphone and I will relinquish the mike.