Thank you, Chair. Thank you for joining us here this morning for this. I find it a very interesting topic because it affects so many people in my particular riding.
I have a couple of questions that hopefully I can get through in the five minutes we have here. The first question is on this topic of income splitting, which is so in vogue, particularly among representatives of seniors' groups here in Canada. There's the notion that in retirement many of the families, or couples, who are facing retirement right now came through a period of time when they didn't have things like spousal RRSPs and those types of mechanisms to find a way to balance a family income, and find themselves now in retirement with a disproportionate income scenario that ultimately disadvantages the family. And I must say I'm of a mixed mind on this. I've seen both sides of the argument.
I wonder if you could explain this a little bit, particularly as it relates to women in this equation. What would you be prepared to say in terms of how it might advantage or disadvantage women in a retirement scenario, presuming if one were to propose, for example, an income splitting ability for couples in retirement?