Canada's pension plan system is crucial to our future, not only because it will sustain us in our retirement, but also because it supports the efficiency of our financial markets and our overall economy in important ways. Defined-contribution and defined-benefit pension plans, RRSPs, and the CPP and QPP all have a role to play.
This is true both in an economic sense, and when viewing relations between the two continents from a wider perspective. And despite the recent slowdown in globalisation since the financial crisis, links between Europe and Asia are likely to become even stronger, as additional Asian countries broaden their integration in the global economy.