Status of Women committee  Absolutely. A few years ago we convened a round table of women entrepreneurs who were certified general accountants and we looked around the table and talked about the problem today, but we also talked about how we would do it for tomorrow. How do we make sure that young women...?

Status of Women committee  I was going to say, I hoped Louise was going to talk about mentoring and she's done a really good job because she's there and she's on the ground and she knows how it works. I think you can use business organizations and professional organizations, but there have to be facilitating mechanisms and that's why the federal government is there, to create the right conditions for this to happen.

Status of Women committee  Yes, definitely. I think one of the measures announced in the federal budget increased to 71 the age to which people can contribute to RRSPs. This would make a phased retirement possible or allow people to contribute longer. This touches on the problem referred to by my colleagues about these women to whom she has been speaking in recent weeks who have to return to the labour market.

Status of Women committee  Thank you for your question, Ms. Demers. It definitely touches on a number of rather complex areas. I must say that I would have liked to invite my colleague who wrote the report on pensions to join us, and I will not go into a great deal of detail about the conclusions of the report, because they are complicated and that is not really my area of expertise.

Status of Women committee  Thank you. I'll start on the RSP, and I'll turn to Louise on the CPP aspects. You're correct regarding the RSP. But when it comes to RSP season, we read on every page—and it coincides with the time the federal budget comes out, so we're always reading the business pages of newspapers—that we're not putting enough money in the RSPs.

Status of Women committee  I think there are some precedents on the ability to opt in. I know in Alberta, entrepreneurs have the opportunity to opt into the workers' compensation program, so I think there's some history there, there are some precedents. One-stop shopping or one solution won't help. You have a very diverse and very varied workforce, a different entrepreneurship cadre, at very different places in their lifespan, so I think you have to look at flexible policies, and opting in would provide the most flexibility.

Status of Women committee  Mandatory versus opting, I think both could be debated. For now, our position is really opting in or opting out.

Status of Women committee  It is just five minutes.

Status of Women committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. We would like to thank committee members for accommodating us in the last few hours of this study. We really appreciate the gesture. We understand you're moving on later today to the task of drafting your report. We're really pleased to participate in the process.

Finance committee  Before asking your question, you spoke about the conflict of interest facing members of our association in that they provide professional service to their clients, and benefit from a very complex tax system. Mr. Colby referred to this as well. However, as a professional association, we do have some responsibility with respect to the public interest.

Finance committee  Actually, we used that data when we questioned. We held a number of focus groups with our members, our tax practitioners, and again, I have to talk about that questioning of the membership. It does coincide. There are a lot of complaints; because it is the taxman, there are a lot of complaints.

Finance committee  Well, how do I answer? I hope we've run out of time. That is a big question.

Finance committee  No, we don't. I have to say that as a national association we have 65,000 members, many on both sides of the income tax equation, many of them auditors at CRA. We have thousands and thousands of members, as we have thousands and thousands of practitioners, so for a national association it's sort of talking out of both sides of our mouths or staying comfortably on the fence.

Bill C-2 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  We could rewrite Enron's history, but I do not think that is the purpose of your question. In the Enron affair, there are several accomplices. Last week, two of the corporation's most important executives were found guilty. The example comes from the top. The printed copy of my text includes quotes from Warren Buffet who states that integrity is truly what is most important.

Bill C-2 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  I wasn't aware of this. I find it interesting, and I immediately leapt, if you will, to what it would mean to our organization. To start, I would say that the previous Parliament amended the Lobbyists Registration Act and changed the definition. We still don't have a lot of experience in understanding exactly what the implications of that will be.