Alberta Premier Danielle Smith won’t say what happened to her government’s promise to hold face-to-face meetings with citizens in December on quitting the Canada Pension Plan. However, thousands of citizens got their say or tuned in to five recent telephone town hall consultations, she said during a house question period last week, noting nearly 100,000 […]
The maximum pensionable earnings under the Canada Pension Plan is increasing to $68,500 in 2024, up from $66,600 in 2023. The employee and employer contribution rates for 2024 will remain at 5.95 per cent and the maximum contribution will be $3,867.50 each, up from $3,754.45 in 2023. The self-employed contribution rate will remain at 11.9 […]
An article on Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s win in the Financial wellness category at Benefits Canada‘s 2023 Workplace Benefits Awards was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com over the last week. Here are the five most popular news stories of the week: 1. Lululemon’s retirement savings plans, financial literacy initiatives lead to award win 2. Telus Communications’ commitment to psychologically safe workplace leads to […]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau entered the Alberta pension-exit debate Wednesday, saying the federal government will fight any threat to the stability of the Canada Pension Plan. In an open letter to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, the prime minister also took her to task for launching the debate in the first place. Smith’s office didn’t immediately […]
Finance Minister Nate Horner says if Alberta abandons the Canada Pension Plan to run its own stand-alone fund, it will not adopt Quebec’s model, which mandates optimizing returns while also investing in the province. His comments come three weeks after Premier Danielle Smith said her government wants to hear from Albertans first before they make […]
Alberta’s opposition is launching its own survey on whether the province should leave the Canada Pension Plan, saying the government questionnaire is a “sham” and a “unicorn.” New Democratic Party finance critic Shannon Phillips says her party’s survey is to lay out a simple choice for Albertans, asking them whether they think leaving the CPP […]
A report commissioned by the Alberta government estimates the province would be entitled to more than half the assets of the Canada Pension Plan if it were to exit the national retirement savings program and go it alone. A third-party report compiled by consultant LifeWorks Inc. (now part of Telus Health) calculated that if Alberta gave the […]
In 2000, the federal government announced same-sex partners of Canada Pension Plan beneficiaries could claim survivor benefits, as long as their bereavement had occurred no earlier than 1998. This was of cold comfort to George Hislop, whose partner Ron Shearer had died in 1986. In 2003, the LGBTQ2S+ rights advocate and businessperson launched a class […]
The Fraser Institute’s president says Alberta’s newly elected premier should ride the wave of the United Conservative Party’s election win and move forward with exploring leaving the Canada Pension Plan. In May, Albertans re-elected Danielle Smith, with the UCP securing a majority government. There’s no better time to start the ‘leave’ discussion than now, says Niels […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is bracing for headwinds in the event of a recession, but says a wide range of investments makes it well-positioned for uncertain economic conditions. The CPPIB reported Wednesday it earned a net return of 1.3 per cent in its latest fiscal year as inflation and rising interest rates weighed on both […]