The Fraser Institute’s president says Alberta’s newly elected premier should ride the wave of the United Conservative Party’s election win and move forward with exploring leaving the Canada Pension Plan. In May, Albertans re-elected Danielle Smith, with the UCP securing a majority government. There’s no better time to start the ‘leave’ discussion than now, says Niels […]
Saskatchewan’s Public Employees Benefits Agency is transitioning to a not-for-profit corporation. The PEBA began pursuing the transition in 2021 at the request of the trustees of the two largest pension plans it administers — the Public Employees Pension Plan and the Municipal Employees Pension Plan. The not-for-profit will begin operations on Jan. 1, 2024 under the […]
An amendment to Manitoba’s Beneficiary Designation Act allows a pension plan member’s legal representative to now make a beneficiary designation on behalf of the member if they can’t make the designation themselves. However, the representative can only designate a beneficiary if the plan renews, replaces or converts a plan made by the participant and the same […]
An article on Amazon Canada’s ‘Dogs at Work’ program was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com over the last week. Here are the five most popular news stories of the week: 1. Amazon expanding ‘Dogs at Work’ program to Canada, easing employees’ return to workplace 2. Survey finds 39% of women considering quitting job due to stress, burnout 3. 76% […]
The Association of Canadian Pension Management is urging Retraite Québec to provide additional flexibility in the funding of municipal and university defined benefit pension plans. In an open letter, the ACPM requested flexibility to fund up to 100 per cent of amortization payments from the reserve, noting this change would allow for better management of financial risks […]
Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador have officially ratified an agreement on multi-jurisdictional pension plans, which will come into effect on July 1. In March, the two provinces announced their intention to sign the agreement, which had previously been adopted by every other province except Prince Edward Island. The agreement’s adoption was contingent on an amended […]
In 2022, the typical defined benefit pension plan achieved an investment return of roughly negative 12 per cent. However, due to dramatic increases in bond yields and a subsequent decrease in pension liabilities, many pension plans ended 2022 with the same — or better — solvency funded level that they had at the beginning of […]
A pair of surveys on the state of Canadian workers’ mental health were among the most-read stories on BenefitsCanada.com over the last week. Here are the five most popular news stories of the week: 1. Survey finds 40% of Canadian gen Z employees at a mental-health ‘breaking point’ 2. Survey finds 40% of workers taking time off due […]
While a third of Canadians are very or extremely confident they’ll be able to retire at the age they want to, around 40 per cent are somewhat confident and a fifth say they don’t think they’ll be able to retire at all, according to MFS Investment Management’s 2022 global retirement survey. “Those stats for the […]
A typical Canadian defined benefit pension plan’s funded position improved on a solvency basis and decreased on an accounting basis in April as a result of the strong performance of domestic equities and decreases in bond yields, according to a new report by Telus Health. During the month, the solvency of the typical Canadian DB […]