There's no free lunch in this world, and indeed, there's no free retirement. If retirement benefits are going up, then someone has to pay for it. The question we need to ask about any kind of a CPP/QPP increase is, what are the real costs, who pays, who can expect to reap the benefits, and what exactly can they expect to get?

A Bank of Montreal poll found that almost a third of young Canadians haven't saved a penny for retirement, and only 10 per cent have given much thought to exactly how much money they're going to need to retire. Clearly, we need to get these folks saving, and fast. I'd like to see today's young Canadians -- particularly those without a gold-plated public sector worker or MP pension -- wind up with something, rather than nothing for their retirement. PRPPs can help employees at private sector small businesses save money for the future.