Finance committee  Sorry, I just wanted to listen to your full.... Yes, it is a voluntary code of conduct in the first instance, but the minister has made it clear that should members not adopt the code, he will make it involuntary.

Finance committee  I guess the framework that surrounds the monitoring of voluntary codes is established by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act, and that empowers the commissioner to get information from certain institutions to monitor, and so on.

Finance committee  You are correct in the sense that the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act would administer the legislation and any regulations that come under the legislation if in force. At this time we have released a code of conduct for the debit and credit card industry. Stakeholders have until May 17 to let the government know whether they will adopt that code.

Finance committee  Well, there are two parts to that. In the first instance, as I mentioned, we're putting in place a code of conduct. So we just released that on April 16. The government is taking action in that regard. It's not legislation; it's a code of conduct. But what this legislation does is it gives the ability to the minister--should stakeholders not adopt the code--to proceed with regulations to make it enforceable.

Finance committee  On the cost question, the very purpose of the code is to bring fairness to merchants to be able to control their costs and increase competition in the marketplace. It requires networks and all those involved in providing services to merchants to clearly disclose the costs of those services.

Finance committee  The prudent person—

Finance committee  There are investment rules associated with the plan funding, as well.

Finance committee  There's a wide range of disclosure elements that will enhance transparency about the status of the plan to members. On the investment side, there are investment rules associated with the framework, and they are consistent with the prudent person rule. The scenario you just described would not be consistent with that.

Finance committee  That's right. I think a lot of the issues that were faced by pension plans are as a result of the situation in the stock market, which nobody predicted, and a lot of the difficulties or challenges they were facing were a result of spikes. So another key element of the reforms being proposed is to smooth some of that for plan sponsors to be able to make it easier to make payments, going over an average of three years versus one year.

Finance committee  Not that I'm aware of directly in the bill.

Finance committee  I think there are a few provisions there. A key one is greater disclosure that will be provided to plan members so that they can look at the situation of their plans on an ongoing basis and be better informed about its status. So it's taking quite a leap in terms of the elements of disclosure that are required.

Finance committee  Certainly that's a major issue, which we've heard a lot about from everybody throughout the media and letters we've received in the department and across the government. I would say that with respect to pension plans, there are safeguards in place in the event of insolvency. In the first instance, the money that people pay in to pension plans is held in trust and it is there for pensioners when they retire.

Finance committee  I think the key element there is that it requires all-party consent at the end of the process. So it's an alternative for everybody involved in the issues facing that company to be able to take some stock and see if funding rules can be changed in order to restructure the pension plan.

Finance committee  There is a limit of 15%.

Finance committee  You asked if you can get it when you're on the brink of insolvency. I think the issue is this is one tool that can help with funding flexibility to avoid that situation. So a company in a cash crunch has another alternative if it's short of cash; the letter of credit can help them avoid going into a deeper trench.