The verdict is out. While Ontario, Nova Scotia and British Columbia have expressed support for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s plan for a national securities regulator,…
Recovering equity markets and rising interest rates combined to nudge the overall health of pension plans upward this past quarter, according to Mercer. The Mercer…
Legislation around plan termination, an end to mandatory retirement and rulings in significant court cases all contributed to pension developments in 2008. But what will…
Saint Mary’s University encourages its plan members to attend financial planning education sessions, with or without incentives. In 1953, Saint Mary’s University in Halifax implemented…
The Wronko case puts employers on notice when it comes to changing group plans. A recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision has severely limited an…
A practical explanation of the credit crisis—how we ended up in the current economic situation and where we can go from here. The current financial…
Reflections on 2008 and hopes for brighter days ahead in 2009. I’m looking at the white flakes whirling around outside the window—nicely coordinated with the…
The legislation for solvency funding relief proposed by the Ontario government on Dec. 16 is likely to be welcomed by plan sponsors. But according to…
While the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions report is largely being panned by observers for having too limited a mandate, the report by the Alberta-British…
The Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions (OECP) report contains more bad news than good for pension plans in the province and was released at the…
Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s recent proposal to offer funding relief to federally regulated pension plans is under fire for being unworkable in the current…
The long-awaited report from the Alberta/British Columbia Joint Expert Panel on Pension Standards was released Friday, calling for sweeping changes to pension standards legislation for…
The ballroom at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto was packed on Wednesday morning as representatives from the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions (OECP), Watson…
From its title all the way to the final recommendation, the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions’ report strives to balance off the often-contradictory desires of…
Some thoughts on the final report of the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions The Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions (OECP) final report, A Fine Balance:…
While some of the recommendations put forward in the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions report were well received by the industry, whether or not the…
Two years after the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions was created, its 222-page report—along with 142 recommendations—was released to the public on Thursday. The report,…
The long-awaited report from the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions (OECP) will be released on Nov. 20. Harry Arthurs, the chair of the commission will…
The Supreme Court of Canada has heard the appeal in the Elaine Nolan et al. v. Kerry (Canada) Inc. et al. case. Last year, plaintiffs…
Access to retirement saving room in Canada’s pension system is inequitably distributed between public and private sector workers, and reform is required to provide all…
Not only is British Columbia’s proposed new pension plan the latest in a string of privately-financed plans cropping up around the world, but it may…
The world is watching to see how pension funds manage risk in a challenging and changing market environment. Pension funds, especially defined benefit (DB) arrangements,…
Managers—and, by extension, plan sponsors—must ensure that socially responsible investments get proper due diligence before they are included or excluded from portfolios. The growth of…
Phased retirement could have a huge impact on the way employers attract and retain employees in the future. With the first cohort of baby boomers…
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…