Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'll be splitting my time with Mr. Vis.
Thank you very much to all of our witnesses who are here today.
Mr. Kassam, thank you so much for your presence here today. This is the first time in knowing you that I've heard about your problem with stuttering, so congratulations on overcoming that and thank you for having the courage to be here today.
Recently our party put forward two potential solutions in an effort to help seniors in particular with their finances during this difficult time. The first is a one-time RRSP withdrawal that would have to be paid back by December 31, 2023. With this they could potentially help their own finances, the finances of their family or perhaps they have a business or want to help the family business. We think this is something that would be useful relative to relying on the government to bring us further into deficit and debt.
Our other solution was no mandatory RRIF withdrawal this year. Again, this is a time when portfolios are taking a significant hit. Of course, you know, as do I, from following the markets, that times of great gain usually follow times when portfolios lose so much, and seniors have so much to lose.
Could I please get your response to these two policy ideas that we've put forward, how they could help the government and most importantly, how they could help Canadians both in this difficult time and going forward?
Thank you.