Ottawa will require federal employees and workers in federally regulated industries to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, marking a shift in the federal government’s position on vaccine mandates. The move — which will affect roughly 1.5 million workers — is necessary to protect against more dangerous variants of the coronavirus, says Dominic LeBlanc, head of the Privy […]
The union president for the Canadian Border Services Agency employees is “relieved” after reaching a new tentative agreement that includes retirement benefits and new paid leave programs. Under the four-year agreement, which dates back to 2018, the Treasury Board has committed to working toward the introduction of early retirement benefits for the border employees, along […]
The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association is calling on the federal government to permit standalone variable payment life annuities to pool participants from all registered retirement plans. In its 2022 federal budget submission, the CLHIA said VPLAs, as enacted, will only be available to members of very large defined contribution pension plans, excluding Canadians […]
Canada’s new employee stock option tax rules are raising a number of questions for employers, says David Crawford, a partner at Hugessen Consulting Inc. The new rules — part of the 2021 federal budget signed into law on June 29 — include an annual limit of $200,000 that will apply on stock option grants that […]
Tucked away in the federal budget are proposals that will lighten the load for defined contribution pension plan administrators confronted with historical under and over contributions. “These errors are usually inadvertent system or software issues or new regulatory guidance or rulings that have retroactive effect,” says Mark Firman, a pensions and benefits lawyer with Stikeman […]
While a national pharmacare program is yet to be revealed by the federal government, any future plan should contain provisions for all costly treatments and not just rare diseases, says Jennifer Schmidt, a principal at Mercer Canada. Read: Federal budget highlights national childcare system, extension of pandemic subsidies This week’s federal budget announcement contained only […]
The Canadian Federation of Pensioners is calling for amendments to federal insolvency laws to protect members of defined benefit pensions if the employer is insolvent. The federation, which represents 23 retiree groups with a total of about 300,000 members, renewed its call for legislative changes after the federal budget failed to mention the issue on […]
The head of the Bank of Nova Scotia is urging Ottawa to top up the annual Canada Child Benefit and increase childcare expense deductions, ahead of the federal budget announcement slated for April 19. During the bank’s annual general meeting on April 13, Brian Porter, chief executive officer of Scotiabank, said he wants the benefit […]
On the heels of the World Health Organization declaring the novel coronavirus a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, Canada’s federal government rolled out several programs to support employers and employees through this once-in-a-century crisis. Almost three weeks after the pandemic declaration by the WHO the federal government introduced the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy on […]
The federal government is consulting on potential solvency funding relief options for 2021 and measures to further strengthen the framework for federally regulated pension plans. About seven per cent of private pension plans in Canada are federally regulated, such as those in industries like banking, telecommunications and inter-provincial transportation, noted a press release from the […]