The Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) said that one of its key concerns about the Ontario Registered Pension Plan (ORPP) has been “laid to rest for the time being.”
The concern was around whether the provincial government intended to try to apply the ORPP to federally-regulated companies, rather than those that come under provincial jurisdiction.
In an editorial published on the OTA website in October 2015, the association’s president David Bradley said the government had not been clear about whether it will attempt to impose the ORPP on federally-regulated employers and employees.
“It is our view that the province does not have the constitutional jurisdiction to impose the ORPP on federal undertakings,” he wrote.
Since that time, the OTA has said it has been in discussion with officials from the office of the associate minister of finance and was informed that there is no “imminent” plan to bring federally-regulated companies into the ORPP.
“Uncertainty over whether people will have enough to retire on is a legitimate economic issue, so we understand the government’s motivation,” said OTA president David Bradley. “But it is a complex issue and we’re not sure the ORPP, as structured and the rules around what is a comparable program, is the answer.”
“Regardless of how laudable the government’s intentions are, the province can’t exceed its constitutional jurisdiction.”