I would like to add that there are some myths. First of all, from the tone of this I get that we're worried about the cost, and I have to give you my own example. I'm 78 and I've been retired for 24 years. I can tell you that looking at the pension plans and their performance, I have performed much better than those plans, and I know a lot of people who have as well. Maybe we were just lucky, but maybe we've lived long enough to be smart.
We talk about costs and the top cost to future generations, but any advantages I might have been able to achieve through RRSPs and my pension plan have been compensated for; they've been paid back. I pay a higher rate of tax now than I ever did in my life. So the idea that you're just puffing this into the wind is a myth.
When we look at the cost, one of the questions that hasn't been asked and maybe should be answered is what about small business? How are they going to be able to afford this? I've been on the other side of the fence and know how business operates. When you get a plan introduction like we did with the CPP back in the 1960s, an adjustment is made. It's made at the bargaining table or in the negotiations people make with their employers. You trade this off. There's no question that the final cost of this will be absorbed by the total compensation. The payoff will be for companies as well because they'll have transferable benefits. They won't have the burden they seem to be complaining about these days, in spite of the fact that with the plan I have, the sponsoring company enjoyed 12 years of contribution holidays.