The Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP) is scheduled to be implemented in about two years, yet there are still many questions about the plan that remain unanswered.
The plan is intended to help Ontarians without a workplace pension, but the question about who doesn’t have to participate in the ORPP was raised at an Osler event in Toronto on Wednesday.
Derek Dobson, CEO and plan manager at the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAAT) Pension Plan, asked whether those who have access to a workplace pension but don’t participate in the plan will need to enrol in the ORPP.
Read: ORPP consultations begin
“Does that mean they are exempt from joining or not? I think there’s a core policy issue: is it access or is it forced savings?” he asked. “So I think they need to get that issue done right.”
Jo-Ann Hannah, Unifor Canada’s director, pensions and benefits, doesn’t believe workers should be exempted from the ORPP except in certain cases.
“If there have to be exemptions, and the Ontario government has already said it is going to exempt comparable plans, then I think it should only be DB plans,” she explained.
Read: The problem with an Ontario pension plan
Dobson also raised the issue about the Ontario government’s desired target, which is an enhanced Canada Pension Plan (CPP).
“If they’re going to convert eventually to an enhanced CPP, how is that best achieved in the current plan design they’re putting out?” he asked.
Jim Leech, the former president and CEO of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, noted that it will be a huge job to set up the arm’s length organization that will manage the ORPP.
Read: Ontario moves ahead with ORPP
“My understanding is they want to be active by 2017,” he said. “So they really have a year and a half before they almost have to be going live.”
Dobson also was unsure about the initial startup costs and how it will be funded.
“Is that from government revenue? Is it from the initial contributions?” he asked. “These are all very challenging questions that have to be resolved.”
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