There is another important component to registered retirement savings plans. Not only is the percentage of people who take advantage of them fairly low, but also, a large proportion of people—and I apologize as I cannot recall the number, and I would not want to just throw one out there—withdraw from their RRSP even before they retire and do not use the money for its intended purpose, since they are not required to do so.
Attaching an obligation to a pension plan is very important. If you do not require people to save, they won't, and if they do, they will do it only temporarily, as if they had not saved anything at all.