Yes. To become law, any material changes to the Canada Pension Plan require the consent of two-thirds of the provinces and two-thirds of the population. The two changes--not all of them, not the housekeeping and the others, but the two first changes that were described, the full funding requirement as well as the change to the disability benefit--will require provincial consent.
Those changes were recommended by the ministers of finance when they met last June. At that meeting the triennial review of the Canada Pension Plan was completed. It had taken place in the previous 12 to 24 months at the officials level, and then at every level up to the minister. The recommendation of the ministers was that we needed to proceed with those two changes. We had to operationalize that change, the full funding requirement, that had been in place since 1998. It was one of the key principles of reform that went back to 1998.
On the disability change, 10 years after some tightening was made to the eligibility requirements for disability benefits as part of the reforms in 1998, ministers wanted to have another look to see whether some refinement had to be made, and the decision was made. The recommendation was yes. We were not talking about undoing the changes that were made in 1998. It was fine tuning, making some adjustment after 10 years of experience.
That recommendation by the ministers of finance, of course, is a result of a long period of work. Of course, the next step is for the law to be passed at the federal level, and once this is passed, orders in council from the provinces are required, and only then can it become law. If a significant change were to be made, it would mean having to return to the provinces, starting the process all again, and it definitely puts at risk the changes that have been proposed and recommended by the ministers.