Thank you all for being here.

I'm tempted to go to our two academics.

I'm puzzled; I really am. I'm a businessman and maybe I've just done everything wrong my whole life. Maybe I should have gone to business school. I would suspect that there are other schools that would disagree with different academics. As a matter of fact, I'm quite sure of that.

I can tell you from my own experience.... It's no secret; I think everybody around here is in that bracket that is somewhat privileged. I don't use the tax-free savings account. I suspect part of the reason is that I have a decent pension now. I make enough money that I can save; I can invest in other places. My wife, on the other hand, who has been a stay-at-home mom her whole life—now, mind you, we're still together, so she'll have that benefit of my experience in life—but she uses that, and her income is substantially less.

I don't know if I want you to comment. I know it's not fair, possibly, but I just think this has to be said. I think you really need to get out of the British model and really study the Canadian model, because there are so many dissimilarities, starting with a tax system where they just tax the living daylights out of people and there is no money left to save.

I would direct this to Ms. MacEwen, too, that if I were a worker who was making $40,000 or $60,000 a year, and if all I was getting was CPP, you know, that's a whole different discussion. We can have that discussion. There are probably reasons for why that happens, and part of it is because we have inequity in our pension system in this country. Then I would be really enticed to start saving. I suspect that when you do your study, you will find that in actuality that is what is going to happen.

The last thing I'd like to say is that—and this is why I find this discussion so bizarre—the money is mine. If it's $40,000, $60,000, or $150,000, once I've paid the taxes, it's mine. If I want to stick it in a tin can and bury it in the backyard, that's my business. I just, for the life of me.... But to put it into a bank or put it into a savings account where it can be reinvested by people, that's where I'm going next.

Dave Van Kesteren

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