Status of Women committee  In terms of financial education in general, I think that is very important, not just for women but for all Canadians. The financial system is getting more complex, so we definitely need that. I did a bit of research on this topic to compare the Canadian experience with other countries.

Status of Women committee  Are you talking about private pension plans, or in total?

Status of Women committee  There's no average, because it varies, depending on what type of plan you have. It's very different between DB and DC and what types of arrangements you have with your DB plans. When you're talking about contributions, are you talking about employer contributions or are you talking about employee contributions?

Status of Women committee  Employee contributions, in general, depend on whether you have a DC plan or a DB plan. So for some of the DB plans, basically, the employers take care of all the contributions. Some ask the employees to make a small contribution. So it really depends on the arrangement. It's very difficult.

Status of Women committee  For DC, the contribution rates are usually lower. So for DC plans--Martine is talking about DB plans--it's probably low as well. So the contributions could be less than 6%.

Status of Women committee  Let me get back to your first question. When we look at the current system, the entire pension plan system, what we are talking about by adding a second layer to the CPP is that we are targeting the mid-income individuals or families who do not usually contribute the full amount of their RRSPs due to various reasons.

Status of Women committee  Yes, we did.

Status of Women committee  Thank you for inviting us to present at today's meeting. There are many issues, in fact, that we can discuss under the general theme of women and pension security, ranging from the high poverty rates among women living on their own to the longer average life expectancy of women compared to men.