Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for a very informative speech which set out what we are actually doing.
Members on the other side take a very short-term view. They cannot look forward a few years, let alone 15 years. In this case, we are way behind. We should have done this previously. In fact, David Dodge, the former governor of the Bank of Canada said:
[W]e’re at least 15 years late in getting started in raising that age of entitlement for CPP, OAS and the normal expectation as to how long people would work in the private sector with private-sector pension plans. That’s absolutely clear, and because labour participation rates will start to fall later this decade, we’re up against the wall.
It is clear that it is time for action. The point we continually have to make is that we are not removing benefits for today's seniors. This will not be implemented until 2023 and it will not be fully implemented until 2029, 17 years from now.
Is 17 years an adequate warning for people to adjust their retirement plans?