Finance committee  The CIA is publishing a white paper today. It's been in the works for a couple of months. It's looking at the different proposals on expanding public coverage. The ABC plan out west was proposed, as well as the Canada supplementary pension plan. There was also the proposal to increase the CPP.

Finance committee  The CIA does not object to changing the 125% standard. However, from a fiscal point of view, our thinking is that it has been at 110% forever, and that if you decide to increase it to 125%, that is a huge jump, considering that it has always been at 110%. In our original document, we said that the rate of 25% should be twice the calculated security margin.

Finance committee  I believe there is some benefit in looking at that type of new mechanism. It doesn't exist today. There is something similar to that in Quebec. A new law was passed in 2009, but it only applies to bankrupt employers. It allows the retirees of those bankrupt employers to transfer their assets to the Régie des rentes.

Finance committee  No, it would not be necessary to have different rules. That said, the legislation in each jurisdiction would have to be adapted. So the Quebec legislation, the ORCR, should allow for this change. This concept can be applied across Canada for employers under federal, Ontario or Quebec jurisdiction.

Finance committee  I didn't touch that subject today because we understood it's going to be a subject for another committee meeting. However, it was part of our retooling document that was published last November, and we talked about it back in 2007. We're suggesting that some things should be done to look into it, but we recognize that changing the creditor status for unfunded plans would greatly disturb financing of employers.

Finance committee  That would be one way of reducing the impact, but it would still have a huge impact down the road when it's all in place. When employers need some financing and they tell the bankers, “We have a big deficit. This year it's $2 billion and maybe next year it's going to be $4 billion.

Finance committee  Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Serge Charbonneau, and I am here representing the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. I am a member of the government liaison task force on pensions. The Canadian Institute of Actuaries is the national organization for the actuarial profession in Canada.