Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, to both councils actually, for taking the time to share with us some of the findings you have gathered over the last few years.
My question is first to Mr. Dobie, in regard to your initial comments regarding the “catch-up” period, as you call it. Many of the charts we saw in the presentation this morning are showing certainly a closing of the gap.
I note, for example, that compared to 2003 and 2004, even the number of senior citizens that are below LICO continues to diminish. When you look at the participation rates of women in the workforce--and I will preface this by saying that I know this doesn't impact the same proportion of women and seniors in general--the level of private pension plans continues to be an increasing share of citizens facing their retirement years.
Taking in all these considerations, wouldn't we tend to see a continuation of that downward trend in terms of the incidence of poverty among senior citizens? It's at 7% now. Why wouldn't we continue to see that trend continue downward?