The Ontario government’s pension plan falls well short of the universal, DB retirement security Ontarians need, and are being used as a smokescreen for more dangerous legislation, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
On Monday, the government introduced legislation to create the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP) and pooled registered pension plans (PRPPs).
Read: Ontario introduces ORPP, PRPP legislation
“On one hand, the Liberal government is acknowledging that millions of Ontarians don’t have real retirement security and require an expanded, public pension system, like the Canada Pension Plan [CPP],” says CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn. “On the other hand, they’re enabling the Harper government’s PRPPs, which only really benefit the financial sector, and which were designed to squash a badly needed CPP expansion,” said Hahn.
The union says the ORPP remains vague on details other than that the plan won’t be universal like the CPP. CUPE Ontario has expressed concern the proposed ORPP’s lack of universality will hamper any future integration into an expanded CPP.
“It would be sad if the Liberals took a great idea like a universal public pension that benefits everyone and turned it into something narrow that could actually hamper expanded public pensions for all Canadians,” he adds.
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