Evidence of meeting #88 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was plan.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Rodger Cuzner Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS
Okay.
You made a shameless plug on the data sets. Could you expand on the need for them?
11:45 a.m.
Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
Oh, certainly. I wanted to keep it vague, but if you want....
The type of data that we really need is what is called longitudinal data. That means we can follow people over time. A number of very, very useful data sets exist at Revenue Canada...or not Revenue Canada, although that's where the data comes from originally. They exist at Statistics Canada, and they allow us to follow adult Canadians from the time they are 18 until the time they die.
Having that type of data is very, very useful for analyzing how the labour market works—sort of the dynamics of the labour market. But there are other data sets that have existed in the past that could, and I think should, be resurrected to allow us to look at different dimensions of labour market activity.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Rodger Cuzner Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS
Thank you.
Mr. Finnie, you didn't get an opportunity to comment on Mr. McColeman's comment about the pooled registered plan. I know you had indicated concern with RRSPs, with regard to the administration costs, the haircut you take on the moneys earned there. With pooled registered pension plans, we've heard concerns before about the administrative costs of that as well. Would you care to make a comment on that, or do you feel confident in making a comment?
11:45 a.m.
Prof. Ross Finnie
Yes, sure. Thank you.
I want to emphasize that I think the pooled registered savings plan was definitely a step in the right direction. I think the government should be commended for that.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
11:45 a.m.
Prof. Ross Finnie
Well, there's a “but” there.
11:45 a.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
11:45 a.m.
Prof. Ross Finnie
I want to emphasize that I'm here to be fair.
11:45 a.m.
Prof. Ross Finnie
I don't think it went nearly as far as it could have or should have. I would simply urge the government to go further in that direction, precisely because when you invest in an RRSP, you have to make all these decisions—do I want this, do I want that—and you buy into some sort of pool. But people don't have the understanding of those instruments. They don't have an understanding even of what they're putting their money into. We all feel that. I feel that. I have a Ph.D in economics; I don't understand my savings plans.
It's a mechanism that allows you to basically buy into a plan that says, look, you're going to contribute this much and you're going to get a fair return on that money. It will be invested. It's riskier when you're young, and then with a gradual evolution over time it will naturally evolve towards a more certain investment later. All these sorts of things that each of us would probably want to do are built into the plan. If you want to exercise your own options on top of what is in the normal plan or the standard choice of plans, then you can do that too. In that way, I think it achieves the best of the RRSPs, the best of this initiative, and we can go forward with that.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Ed Komarnicki
Thank you, Professor Finnie and Professor Gray, for being with us, and also Ms. Mayo.
The bells are now ringing, so I'm going to adjourn. We'll see whether or not we reconvene on Thursday, depending on whether the House is sitting or not.
With that, the meeting is adjourned.