The Ontario financial regulator’s move to wind up the Sears Canada Inc. pension plan will be proceeding to a hearing after a creditor of the struggling retailer requested one. Sears itself didn’t request a hearing, which interested parties had the ability to do up until a mid-December deadline. The creditor, 1291079 Ontario Ltd., made the request on […]
With the pension woes at Sears Canada Inc. in the spotlight, the political parties have been busy touting their solutions to the defined benefit conundrum. This fall, parliamentarians from both the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party put forth private members’ bills aimed at boosting the priority of pension obligations during bankruptcy and restructuring […]
For some investors, tradition isn’t cutting it anymore. Rock-bottom interest rates are squeezing fixed-income returns, and the need to diversify through sturdy, lower-risk assets is apparent. While low volatility in equity markets is comforting, how long will it last? “We don’t know when but we’re pretty sure the equity market will correct, maybe severely,” says […]
Canada’s public sector pension organizations are global leaders. Over the past 30 years, they’ve distinguished themselves in the delivery of secure and sustainable defined benefit pensions but they’re facing new challenges. At issue is whether they can meet those challenges and repeat past successes for the next generation of Canadians. A new report commissioned by […]
While total pension wealth rose for an eighth consecutive year in 2016, the wealth of employer-based pension plans increased at a much weaker pace than the previous year, according to Statistics Canada. Total pension wealth rose 3.8 per cent to $3.6 billion by the end of 2016, following a 5.1 per cent gain in 2015. The wealth of employer-based pension plans rose 3.5 per cent to […]
Ontario has published a description of its new funding framework for defined benefit pension plans, including details on how the provision for adverse deviations will work under new going-concern rules. Under the proposed new funding framework, the provision for adverse deviation — a percentage used to determine additional contributions in respect of the normal cost and going-concern […]
Some $2.5 billion of group annuity purchases were placed during the first three quarters of 2017, in line with the total annual sales for the past few years, according to Willis Towers Watson’s latest report on the Canadian annuity market. The vast majority of year-to-date annuity transactions were for ongoing pension plans, which demonstrates the continued trend […]
The British Columbia Court of Appeal has dismissed injured veterans’ pension claims against the federal government because they had “no chance of success.” “It’s difficult to understand the claim at all, at least not without completely reimagining our constitutional framework,” says David Rankin, an associate in Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP’s Toronto office. “The decision […]
Independent governance has been one of the key factors in the success of Canadian public pension plans, according to a new report commissioned by the World Bank. “Strong, independent governance is perhaps the most important element of the Canadian model,” the report, released on Wednesday, stated. “Canadian pension organizations are governed to run as high-performing, arm’s-length entities […]
A report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is touting restrictions on shareholder payments as a way of boosting the sustainability of defined benefit pension plans. The report, which looked at 39 companies on the S&P/TSX 60 index with defined benefit plans, found that in many cases, shareholder payouts exceed pension deficits. “For the case of the 39 […]