Mr. Speaker, the hon. member made reference to actually doing nothing with the plan and hoping that greater economic growth would take care of the challenges which the Canada pension plan faces. I would submit that is what past governments have done. For the first time we have a government which is responding to what Canadians have said they want through consultations. Canadians want changes to be made to the plan to ensure its sustainability.
Going further, the chief actuary has actually made the calculation that with the inclusion of 150,000 more Canadians being employed, the effect would be to reduce the steady state rate from 9.9% to 9.856%. Effectively the increase in the growth in the economy is still not sufficient to achieve the sustainability of the plan. That is why the changes were made, to ensure that the plan will be there for Canadians in the future.
The member referred to the U.S. plan and how effective it is. Is the NDP member saying that he wants to increase the age of retirement which is the case in the United States of America?
We require a made in Canada solution. We have done that by going to Canadians and ensuring that Canadians had an opportunity to be heard on the Canada pension plan. The suggestions made by Canadians in consultations are reflected in Bill C-2.
Should we mirror the U.S. plan, as the hon. member has stated in his comments?