Eight hundred unionized employees of Regina-based Co-op Refinery remain locked out after contract negotiations stalled. The refinery, which is part of Federated Co-operatives Ltd., locked out members of Unifor Local 594 on Dec. 5. Unifor said Co-op is demanding major concessions on the employees’ defined benefit pension. Currently, the DB plan is fully funded by Co-op, but […]
In 2009, the Air Canada pension plan was in dire straits with a $2.6 billion solvency deficit. A decade later, it has a surplus of more than $2 billion. The complete turnaround is in part due to a new investment team that joined in 2009 and transformed the pension fund’s investments. With the $21 billion […]
Heading into 2020 and beyond, the outlook for interest rates is impacting the federal government’s projected pension obligations and its budgetary balance. In its 2019 fall economic update on Monday, the government reduced the projected budgetary balance by $4.2 billion in 2019/20 and $11.6 billion in 2024/25. While the balance projections aren’t entirely related to pension obligations, […]
Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister is calling for a merger of the management services for the province’s public-sector pensions. Pallister says he’s not suggesting the funds themselves merge — only that they be managed as a group. A much larger pool of funds would be subject to lower management fees, he says, which could save roughly $200 million […]
The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System is appointing Blake Hutcheson as its new chief executive officer, effective June 1, 2020. Hutcheson, who is currently OMERS’ president and chief pension officer, will succeed current CEO Michael Latimer, who is retiring after two decades at the pension fund and six years at its helm. Read: Michael Sabia to step down as […]
When central banks took on the challenge of saving a drowning global economy during the 2008 financial crisis, pension plans appeared to have plenty to be thankful for. However, as the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank embark on their latest round of monetary stimulus, these policy changes mean pension plans are now […]
An important case around an employer’s ability to change its practice in granting consent benefits under a pension plan is winding its way through the courts. The case, Hall et al v Canadian National Railway, involves a dispute by a group of former employees of the Canadian National Railway Co. who resigned, prior to age 55, between the years […]
Domtar Corp. is entering into an agreement with Sun Life Financial for a group annuity buyout. The transactions will transfer about $360 million in obligations and related assets from the paper mill company’s defined benefit plans in Canada over to the insurer. Read: Rayonier Advanced Materials pension taking on annuity buyout In addition, it will convert about $101 million […]
The Manitoba government has proposed changes to the provincial Pension Benefits Act that will allow the creation of in-plan solvency reserve accounts for defined benefit pension plans registered in the province. The amendments would permit plan sponsors to withdraw funds from the reserve account when the plan is in surplus and would prohibit them from […]
The Alberta Court of Appeal has upheld a $267,017 award to a pensioner for negligent misrepresentation after the Alberta Pensions Services Corp. provided mistaken estimates of the pensioner’s retirement benefits. But the lawyer for Dr. William Calder and his wife says the ruling, which also validated a change in the ASPC’s interpretation of the governing […]