The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario is promoting retirement planning with its inaugural Pension Awareness Day on Feb. 16. Through the event, the FSRA is aiming to spark conversations about retirement savings and inspire employees to take full advantage of employer-sponsored pension plans, says Caroline Blouin, executive vice-president of pensions at the FSRA, noting […]
Few people have as clear a perspective on the differences between public sector defined benefit pension plans in Canada and the U.S. as Paul Matson. “I know the Canadian system,” said the executive director of the Arizona State Retirement System, during a session at the Canadian Investment Review‘s 2022 Investment Innovation Conference. “Before [the Alberta Investment […]
While many Alberta employers say they’d be disadvantaged if the province left the Canada Pension Plan, one expert says a provincial pension plan could benefit members by reducing contributions and increasing retirement savings. Last November, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith instructed the province’s finance minister to provide recommendations on the implementation of a provincial pension plan. According […]
Last October, Ontario’s pay equity office reported Canadian women received an average of 18 per cent less retirement income than men in 2020, which is three per cent higher than the gap observed in 1976, the earliest year for which data is available. How has progress moved backwards in the past 44 years, even though women are […]
The union representing roughly 300 employees at American Airlines in Toronto and Montreal has ratified a new two-year agreement that includes pension and benefits improvements. The agreement includes a 0.5 per cent increase to the matching formula for the defined contribution pension plan — from 5.5 per cent to six per cent — plus an […]
Matching employer contributions in capital accumulation plans are as close to free money as employees can legally get. “You’re not changing your risk — because the money goes to the same fund it would otherwise — and you’re getting two-times the return,” says Eric Monteiro, senior vice-president of group retirement services at Sun Life Financial […]
The union representing more than 60 employees at Right Time Call Centre in St. Catharines, Ont. has ratified a three-year collective agreement that includes bereavement leave enhancements. The agreement will allow employees to use their three paid days of bereavement leave for the death of a stepfather, stepmother or foster parent, as well as the parent […]
The union representing employees at automobile manufacturing company Stellantis’ assembly plants in Windsor, Ont. and Brampton, Ont. has ratified a three-year collective agreement that includes pension and retiree benefits improvements. The agreement will add $1 per hour to the current company pension contribution. Employees earning the current maximum wage rate will see the pension contribution converted […]
Alongside the steady decline of defined benefit pension coverage in Canada, defined contribution plans have seen a massive growth — “a secular shift of responsibility onto the individual when it comes to retirement security in Canada,” according to Preet Banerjee, a personal finance expert, during Benefits Canada’s 2022 DC Investment Forum in late September. He called […]
Canada’s gender pension gap is growing as Canadian women received an average of 18 per cent less retirement income than men in 2020, according to a report by Ontario’s pay equity office. It found the gap is more pronounced among women in visible minority groups (37 per cent), among sources of private retirement income (28 per […]