Too much avocado toast isn’t the reason younger Canadians have a hard time getting a start on their retirement savings. Canadian millennials are “literally working and studying more to have less” than their parents and grandparents, according to Paul Kershaw, associate professor in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, […]
The Quebec government has announced a plan to expand the Quebec Pension Plan in line with reforms to the Canada Pension Plan. As part of the changes, the government will establish an additional component to the QPP, similar to the planned reforms to the CPP. There will be the basic plan, which has been in effect […]
The Canadian government will discontinue the Canada savings bond and Canada premium bonds program on Nov. 1, 2017. While existing bonds will continue as usual until they mature or the purchaser redeems them, the option of buying them through a payroll savings program will now be off the table. The program reached peak popularity in the 1980s, but […]
Earlier this month, Health Canada did some substantial editing to its website, removing all references to a planned regulatory framework for orphan drugs. Orphan drugs are medications that treat rare diseases. The framework was an effort to help increase their availability for patients and foster their development by companies and researchers. Currently, Canada is one of the […]
Nova Scotia is following in the footsteps of a number of other provinces by looking into its funding framework for defined benefit pension plans. Like most jurisdictions in Canada, Nova Scotia requires defined benefit plans to be valued and funded on both a going-concern and a solvency basis. Under the review, the province is considering […]
It has been a busy period for changes to public drug programs in Ontario, as the provincial government has been working on policies with the potential to offer savings to private benefits plans: pharmacare coverage for people under the age of 25 and upgrades to the Trillium drug program for people with high drug costs. […]
Ontario’s standing committee on finance and economic affairs has passed a number of amendments to a bill aimed at boosting the province’s workplace standards legislation, including two changes concerning leave related to domestic and sexual violence. If the legislature passes the amendments, Bill 148 will include a new section providing for domestic or sexual violence […]
New draft regulations published in Quebec this summer address policies around annuity purchases for defined benefit pension plans for the first time. Industry stakeholders have been expecting the province’s regulations, which are currently under consultation, since Jan. 1, 2016, when Quebec implemented legislative changes that replaced its solvency regime with enhanced going-concern funding rules and required […]
In the last few weeks, employees — both current and former — of troubled retailer Sears Canada Inc. have had plenty to worry about after the company announced plans to restructure and then asked for relief from fulfilling its retiree benefits obligations and making special payments to its pension plan as it cut off severance payments to […]
As Canada looks to legalize marijuana next year, many employers are still unsure about how to prepare for what happens when the legislation takes effect, according to a recent study by the Human Resources Professionals Association. In a recent survey of its members, it found 45 per cent of respondents don’t believe their workplace policies adequately address […]