Murray Gold’s first day of work with Koskie Minsky LLP coincided with the start of the case Re Collins and Pension Commission of Ontario (the Dominion Stores case), in which the firm defended the grocery chain’s pension plan members following their employer’s withdrawal of the plan’s $56-million surplus. He was instantly hooked.
“It was the first time that the media and the community really focused on pensions, and the first time a bright light had been shone on pension laws, practices and expectations,” he says, remembering the 1986 Supreme Court of Ontario proceedings. “The judges were pretty outraged at what was happening. It wasn’t the kind of courtroom experience that I expected. It was kind of an electric event.”
According to Gold, now a partner in Koskie Minsky’s pension and benefits practice group in Toronto, Canadian pension law at that time was in its infancy. There were just a handful of income tax provisions around pensions, the Pension Benefits Standards Act (introduced in 1985) was relatively short, and Gold estimates that all of the pension cases to that point could be read in just a few days. “You could become a pension expert relatively quickly. That’s changed, of course.”
And Gold has been involved in much of that change. The landmark Dominion Stores case, for example, resulted in employers being required to enter into agreements with employees before attempting to access pension surplus.
More recently, Gold was appointed as an expert advisor to the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions, whose 2008 report led to a number of legislative changes in the province. Bills 120 and 236—both passed in 2010—included about two-thirds of the commission’s 142 recommendations.
“That was really a tremendous opportunity, for which I’ll be grateful for the rest of my life,” he says. “It’s a privilege to be able to take a look at your field from different perspectives—from the overall social perspective, from the legislative and government perspectives—and to deal with pensions as a real, controversial social issue.”
While most of the recommendations have been adopted, Gold says a significant one that wasn’t acted on concerns improving funding levels and benefits for Ontario’s Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund. He says that with shifting demographics, uncertain economic times and the ongoing funding challenges faced by many plan sponsors, a strong mechanism to protect the individual’s retirement security is more important than ever.
“We’re in a position where people are relying on pensions. A person’s pension allows them to live more or less decently, with more or less dignity, after they can’t work anymore.”
That realization drives Gold to continue to work closely with his industry peers in order to ensure that Canadians can look forward to a similar level of financial security in retirement as in their working years.
It’s time-consuming work that’s not always recognized by those who benefit from it. But Gold just has to look at his daughter—14, and an aspiring dancer—to know that it’s the end result, not public acknowledgement of the process, that matters the most.
“It’s like watching a dancer. You see them on the floor, stretching each toe muscle and angling each one so it’s precisely right, and it takes time. But when they’re up on the stage, you’re not thinking about how all of the muscles have been trained and co-ordinated. It looks easy.”
Neil Faba is associate editor of Benefits Canada. neil.faba@rci.rogers.com
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