Canadians are often told they need to save more for retirement and to start saving sooner. Life expectancy is increasing and investment returns are low, so the cost of providing retirement income is much more than it used to be. Saving more seems like the prudent thing to do.
On April 30, the Ontario government released a draft regulation to amend Ontario Regulation 909—the Pension Benefits Act (PBA) General Regulation—and a consultation document seeking “constructive feedback” regarding yet-to-be-released regulations.
The federal budget contains a number of measures relating to public pensions, public sector pensions and private retirement saving.
Ontario’s minority government released its budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year yesterday. The budget announces a number of measures that are expected to have a significant effect on pension plans and retirement saving—particularly in the public sector—if the budget is passed by the Ontario legislature.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper put pensions on the front page with his announcement on Jan. 23, 2012, that the federal government is considering reducing the costs of the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and Old Age Security (OAS).
On Feb. 15, 2012, the Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services released its report. Chaired by noted economist Don Drummond, and announced in the March 2011 Ontario budget, the commission was given a mandate to review Ontario government spending. A key motivator for creating the commission is the province’s worsening fiscal position. With […]
More than eight years have passed since the Joint Forum of Financial Market Regulators released its Guidelines for Capital Accumulation Plans (the “CAP Guidelines”) in May 2004. As more employers choose to sponsor DC pension plans, this may be a good time to take a look at whether the CAP Guidelines have improved investment decision-making […]
On October 21, 2008, the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities (CAPSA) released a Proposed Agreement Respecting Multi-Jurisdictional Pension Plans (Proposed Agreement). If adopted by pension standards regulators across Canada, the Agreement would replace the Memorandum of Reciprocal Agreement (Current Agreement) and other bilateral agreements which set out rules for the regulation of Multi-Jurisdictional Pension […]
An employee of Nortel Networks Corporation and Nortel Networks Limited launched a class action on June 24, 2008 claiming damages and other relief for Nortel employees who, on June 26, 2006, who did not meet grandfathering criteria for continued participation in the defined benefit (DB) provisions of the Nortel Networks Limited Managerial and Non-Negotiated Pension […]
The Ontario Court of Appeal’s unanimous June 5, 2007 decision in Kerry (Canada) Inc. v. DCA Employees Pension Committee was welcomed by many sponsors of hybrid pension plans—plans with defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) provisions. Kerry brought clarity to the question as to whether actuarial surplus could be used to pay employer DC […]