Short term pain – but long term gain.

That’s what the federal government says its proposed expansion of the Canada Pension Plan will create.

A tentative agreement has been reached with provincial governments – to eventually increase contributions and retirement benefits through the public plan.

That agreement was reached in June – and new data from the Finance Department says the changes will lower current employment-growth projections by up to 0.07 per cent.

And the forecast growth for real gross domestic product will see a dip of up to 0.05 per cent – over the short term.

But longer term, the government predicts the pension changes will result in increased G-D-P growth of up to 0.09 per cent – along with a 0.06 per cent rise in employment.

The new information comes as Finance Minister Bill Morneau appears before a parliamentary committee – addressing concerns that bolstering public pensions could do further damage to Canada’s struggling economy.