Mr. Speaker, I am intrigued with this Canada pension plan. I was a young man just starting my career in 1966 when the Canada pension plan was brought in. I remember at that time that some advice had been given by different people to the government bureaucrats, and some from the government bureaucrats, saying that it must be set up to be financially sound and stable. There were questions even then regarding whether the Liberal government of the day should be getting into this thing at all because before that there was no Canada pension plan.
The Canada pension plan is not a wonderful scheme for people who do not happen to work during their lifetime. For example, people like my own wife, who, because of our choice to have a full time mom in the home, has never been the recipient of a weekly or a monthly salary. She has not been able to contribute to the Canada pension plan and gets no pension. It is only for those who presumably already have the means whereby they can put away some extra money to supplement the income they would get from the old age pension. This was not well done because it was badly set up.
I remember an actuary from the government suggesting that the rates of contribution were not high enough to make it sustainable. He was summarily fired, not unlike the actuary a year or two ago who suggested that changes should be made and who disagreed with the former minister of finance. He too was fired because of that advice.
We need to take sound financial advice from actuaries and others so that the Canada pension plan is sustainable and is financially sound because Canadians are expecting it.