Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I would like to welcome all our witnesses today. Thank you very much for being with us this afternoon.
I could perhaps begin by addressing the point raised by Ms. Carbonneau, which is that the majority of women tend to work in small companies and in the services industry, where there are fewer opportunities to receive a pension and where there is not much chance of saving for retirement. Many Canadians have explored the idea of increased supplements under the Canada Pension Plan and the Quebec Pension Plan.
From a Canadian point of view and particularly from women's point of view, am I right in thinking all of you are in favour of some kind of expansion of the Canada or Quebec Pension Plan? If so, would you think it should be voluntary or compulsory? What scale of increase would you have in mind?
And last, if you don't have subsidization across generations, then any increase in the CPP won't benefit retirees for quite some years to come. So such a change would not benefit very many people who are, say, 50 or 55 plus. Is that the kind of reform you have in mind?
Perhaps I could invite each of our three groups to comment on that series of questions.
Ms. Townson.