If looking forward you are more or less correct.

Looking in the rear-view mirror CPP was originally designed as a means of intergenerational wealth transfer based around the notion of an ever-growing population of workers.  Someone who spent the bulk of their working career prior to the late 1990's received *VASTLY* more CPP benefits than what they paid in.

Someone who spends the bulk of their working career after the late 1990's is both funding their own retirement AND covering off the massive unfunded liability left behind from the first 30+ years that CPP existed.