From the perspective of what was discussed originally, there's a notion that benefits under the Old Age Security Act and the Canada Pension Plan are not subject to nationality restrictions. In other words, you should not advantage or disadvantage someone simply because they happen to be a permanent resident or a Canadian citizen. As I've explained before, Canada is one of the few countries where that equality of treatment provision is built into its pension legislation. This is something that is rare around the world, and it's something that I'm exposed to in my negotiations internationally on social security agreements.
I take your point in terms of ratcheting it down, but the provisions already exist within existing legislation to have that different category of person established. The concern is that if you don't make it on par--in other words, if you don't ensure that Canadian citizens and permanent residents in terms of their sponsorship are treated the same way--then it opens it up to a difference of treatment. I think this is something that is the intention here to avoid.