Madam Speaker, one of the ways is to lower the overall tax rate. The principle is to enable people to provide for themselves and for those who cannot provide for themselves we should have a social program and a pension system that will provide through the tax system for those who are most impoverished. That is the principle of any safety net and I think that is the original intent.
One of the problems we have is that the amount allowed for those individuals who can contribute is less than what it ought to be. There is no harm in increasing the maximum amount that one can contribute to $20,000 a year, which is what we should do. We should also increase the foreign content up to 50%. That is generally recognized as constructive in enabling people to provide for themselves.
Therefore it is a twofold approach. For those who can invest, allow them to do that. We should also educate people on the importance of being able to provide for themselves and on how much money they will require when they retire. I know my hon. colleague knows full well that many people today do not understand the amount of money they require in order to retire.
I know the banks have a very innovative program for educating high school students on basic money management and the importance of saving. I think that kind of program should be encouraged across the country so that teenagers can have good, sound economic advice and management on what their future economic needs will be, which we were not taught at all when we were in high school. If we were to do that people would put money into an RRSP for their retirement.
We must rationalize the OAS to provide for those seniors who right now are living below the poverty line and who truly endure lives of quiet suffering, which should not really happen in our country at all.