Evidence of meeting #45 for Finance in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was subamendment.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Karina Gould
All right. We will suspend committee, then. Thank you.
[The meeting was suspended at 10:02 p.m., Monday, June 8]
[The meeting resumed at 10:01 a.m., Tuesday, June 9]
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Karina Gould
Good morning, colleagues.
We are going to get started. We are back on CPC-13.
Shall CPC-13 carry?
Conservative
Philip Lawrence Conservative Northumberland—Clarke, ON
Chair, we have the opportunity to comment on this. I believe that's the way this process is supposed to work. Literally, there was a gap of maybe a second.
Conservative
Philip Lawrence Conservative Northumberland—Clarke, ON
I'm not that quick. It's morning. I'm right here, with my hand—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Karina Gould
It's 10 a.m. That's plenty of time.
I'll allow it this time, but next time, be more on the ball, please.
Conservative
Philip Lawrence Conservative Northumberland—Clarke, ON
No crosstalk, please, Mr. Turnbull, as that affects the interpreters.
I believe I was talking to Mr. Countryman as we left off. Could Mr. Countryman return?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Karina Gould
Is Mr. Countryman here? No. He has somebody else replacing him this morning.
Bloc
Jean-Denis Garon Bloc Mirabel, QC
I'm not trying to take up time unnecessarily, but there is a decorum problem. Today is our Green Party colleague's birthday, and we started the meeting without wishing her a happy birthday, so I'm asking for unanimous consent.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Karina Gould
Thank you, Mr. Garon.
On behalf of the committee, happy birthday, Ms. May. Welcome back to the committee.
For the witness, can you identify yourself? Then you can answer any questions.
Thank you.
Justin Stuart Senior Director, Income Security, Department of Finance
I'm Justin Stuart. I'm the senior director of income security at the Department of Finance.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Thank you.
Conservative
Philip Lawrence Conservative Northumberland—Clarke, ON
I wanted to go over some of the changes and, of course, we have an amendment, which is requiring additional disclosure. I left off with Mr. Countryman.
While certainly understanding the fact that there are triennial and then the most recent actuarial evaluations, the difference in the amendment is that it requires a five-year review looking at the impact.
For the benefit of Canadians, I want to go over the financial impact. The member opposite quite rightly pointed out that Conservatives have been calling for a reduction in the withholding taxes that Canadian workers have faced after 10 years of the worst economy since the Great Depression. There has been basically zero growth in GDP per capita. We are now in the third quarter out of four of a recession. It is hurting people.
It's also important that we are good stewards financially. One of the things the recent actuarial report said was that it was sustainable, but I think it's important for Canadians to realize that a relatively modest event could cause that to become unsustainable.
The current MCR is between 9.1% and 9.2%. Is that right?
Senior Director, Income Security, Department of Finance
Thank you.
Right now, we're at about 9.2% for the minimum contribution rate, which is currently about 70 basis points below the legislated rate of 9.9%. The proposed change in Bill C-30 would bring that base contribution rate down from 9.9% to 9.5%.
After Bill C-30, we would be left with about 30 basis points of a buffer.
Conservative
Philip Lawrence Conservative Northumberland—Clarke, ON
Yes. I jumped in a bit ahead of the game.
So that Canadians understand, the MCR—the minimum contribution rate—is the rate at which we need to contribute to the CPP between employer and employee to keep the CPP sustainable or able to pay out the CPP benefits.
Senior Director, Income Security, Department of Finance
That's correct. The minimum contribution rate is how the chief actuary assesses the financial health of the plan. The chief actuary looks over the next 75 years and assesses the health of the plan in looking at what the minimum rate would be to sustain the plan in a financially healthy manner.
Conservative
Philip Lawrence Conservative Northumberland—Clarke, ON
The MCR is currently at 9.2%. We are at a contribution rate, after the amendments, of 9.5%. As I said, it's important to understand that events will often happen. I have a couple of suppositions that I want to make to you and, to the best of your ability, you can confirm or say otherwise.
My understanding is that the projected economic growth in the actuarial assessment is 4.05%. Is that correct?
Senior Director, Income Security, Department of Finance
If you give me one second here....
Conservative