Status of Women committee  We didn't quite get through our response on poverty and how the poverty rates have come down and the causes of that, and so on, where we did describe some of the programs that have an impact on this. I don't think we should underestimate the impact of other factors on this, the

Status of Women committee  That is only if they are eligible under their previous country's program and we have an arrangement with them that makes the benefits from one program recognized in the other—a reciprocal agreement. It's called a social security agreement. It is not in place with all countries in

Status of Women committee  I don't have that list, but I could provide it to you.

Status of Women committee  In Budget 2007 we started out by strengthening and renewing the equalization and territorial formula financing programs to ensure that all Canadians across Canada could have, with the assistance of these programs, a reasonable possibility of getting a reasonable, comparable level

Status of Women committee  It just depends on how you add it up. That's not quite my area.

Status of Women committee  My understanding is that one must have 10 years of residency in Canada to be eligible for the old age security pension. Once you have attained that, you may be eligible for what's known as the super-GIS, in the sense that if you are in that low-income area, you may have your OAS

Status of Women committee  No. It's officially for someone who's terminally ill.

Status of Women committee  We're not aware that's an issue. You only have to apply once in your lifetime, and it comes; there's no big issue in terms of actual access.

Status of Women committee  It doesn't reduce your pension—

Status of Women committee  —because you were out of the workforce for caregiving purposes. That being said, the other program is the EI compassionate care benefits, which provide up to six weeks of benefits in situations where you have a terminally ill patient who requires some close family attention. Tha

Status of Women committee  I think people know about it.

Status of Women committee  That has also been one of the recommendations that has been reviewed and looked at. At my last count, we were still seeing how this was going to work—as it is now—before seeing whether or not any sort of expansion will be considered.

Status of Women committee  To begin with, we do know, and the monitoring and assessment reports have told us, there are some issues associated with the fact that this has to be for someone who is—I will use the wrong word—certified as likely to die within a year. That in and of itself is a tricky decision

Status of Women committee  I think I can do the first one quite quickly, which is basically to say that when we do our work as analysts in the government, as good bureaucrats, we take into account a wide range of impacts whenever we're looking at a program or policy, whether it's a change, or a new program

Status of Women committee  The point I'm making is that when our people, particularly at the Department of Finance, look at these from a broad perspective, they ask the department whether or not they have done the analysis that would enable us to answer that question should it come up. Is this fair to rura