Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak today to Bill C-26, which seeks to improve the Canada pension plan. This plan is a recognized and effective part of Canada's public retirement income system. Since its inception and implementation in 1965, under the Liberal government of Lester B. Pearson, it has provided contributors who reach the age of eligibility regular retirement income payments in order to help them cover living expenses during retirement, and to guarantee the financial security of hard-working Canadians.
Together with old age security, the CPP provides the foundation for our publicly funded system for retired Canadians that allows people and their families to hold on to their savings while living comfortably, without the insecurity that comes with financial instability.
As all hon. members may know, the Government of Quebec manages its own retirement plan, the Régime de rentes du Québec, which is akin to the Canada pension plan. The improvements that Bill C-26 makes to the Canada pension plan are an investment in the future.
The bill presents a comprehensive plan that will provide an appropriate and realistic increase in benefits for contributors when they become eligible. This will have a positive and lasting impact on the financial security of Canadian retirees in the coming decades.
The proposed enhancement, which will be implemented gradually and through the creation of a new separate account to manage additional funds for retirees, will guarantee a stable and smooth transition, without imposing a financial burden arising from unmanageable financial expectations.
As indicated in the bill, the changes will be administered by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which will have the authority to prepare financial statements concerning the amounts managed, which consist of the additional contributions and increased benefits.
Last year, Statistics Canada announced that the number of seniors in Canada, people aged 65 years and older, had exceeded the number of children aged 0 to 14 years. In fact, on July 1, 2015, seniors represented 16.1% of Canada's population, compared to 16% for young children. There are now about six million seniors in Canada and this number is expected to grow by 50% in the next 21 years.
In my riding of Vimy, which is located in the heart of Laval, Quebec, there is already a large population of seniors. Since the population is aging, it is vital that we improve the existing mechanisms that, to our knowledge, effectively provide the necessary financial assistance in retirement.
We have the data in front of us, and we know which way the wind is blowing. Bill C-26 will gradually improve the existing system to help meet the needs of our aging population.
Some opposition members believe that this is just another tax hike and that there are better retirement savings options available to individuals. To say that this is a tax hike is completely absurd, and while it may not be completely false to say that there are better retirement savings options, that is true only within reasonable limits and under very specific circumstances.
Members of the official opposition talk up the tax-free savings account, saying that it could and should be the main means by which low-income and middle-class Canadian workers save for retirement. According to the Conservatives, the higher the annual TFSA contribution limit, the more low-income and middle-class Canadians will benefit.
Let us be realistic. The previous government increased the TFSA limit to $10,000. Does anyone really believe that low-income or even many middle-class Canadians can afford to contribute that much to their TFSA?
The TFSA is a mechanism that can be used effectively to invest and save depending on a person's income threshold, but make no mistake, the $10,000 limit benefited only Canadians with very high incomes who were able to use their TFSAs to get a tax exemption. The public purse paid the price of that measure.
The people that TFSAs were supposed to help are the very same ones who were forgotten when that ill-considered increase was introduced. It would have been better to properly address income inequality by optimizing and using other mechanisms enabling low- and middle-income Canadians to keep more money in their pockets and enjoy a comfortable retirement.
We have heard people say that low-income taxpayers are able to contribute the maximum to their TFSAs. Does anyone really believe that low-income workers and certain middle-class workers who support themselves can pay all of their bills, eat reasonably well, pay off their debts, and splurge on something every now and then and still deposit $10,000 per year into a savings account? That would be really disingenuous, and it would be a pretty mean thing to do to the people we are trying to help.
There is also the criticism that this would do nothing to help seniors now. This argument is not only missing the point of the legislation entirely, but fails to recognize what the government has already done for seniors, both through enhancements to existing programs and fixing the mistakes from the previous government. The first budget made provisions to restore the age of eligibility to the OAS and enhance the GIS for low-income seniors, again, putting money directly in the pockets of those who need it most.
This legislation does not do anything immediately, because that is not its purpose. We have already made changes for the interim to help offset the rising cost of living for our most vulnerable seniors. Therefore, to say that Bill C-26 would do nothing for seniors now, has very little to do with the nature of this debate to begin with. This is a long-term project that would ensure financial security of our seniors for decades and has nothing to do with other adjustments to social security we have already made. The reality is a significant decline for a large percentage of employees in Canada who had access to a registered pension plan through their jobs. It is the shortfall in middle-income retirement planning that is opening up as a result of disappearing corporate pensions.
CPP reform is designed to address these shortcomings. The current maximum amount of income covered by the CPP is $54,900. An enhanced CPP would see that maximum raised to $82,700 by 2025. It would also raise the annual payout target from 25% of pre-retirement earnings to 33%. For retired Canadians, this could represent thousands of dollars in take home pension income.
With Bill C-26, we are planning for the future. We are ensuring the well-being of retirees whose other savings options were curtailed by the elimination of private employer-sponsored pension plans. We are offsetting the rising cost of living by increasing the pension benefits that Canadians receive from a quarter of their income to a third.
We are preserving a certain standard of living for all families so that everyone can live with dignity in retirement. Most importantly, our affordable and sustainable approach will ensure that today's prosperity lasts.