When it comes to addressing the many challenges facing pension and benefits plans, we already know many of the solutions. Taking action on them, however, is often a different matter. As Benefits Canada reported in its annual report on drug plan trends last month, many plan sponsors have reached a crisis point around escalating costs. […]
The Public Employees Benefits Agency, which administers the pension plan for public sector employees in Saskatchewan, has been looking at how to support members around decumulation for several years. “It’s a big issue. If you think about it, many people in a defined contribution plan go into a default fund and stay there forever. So […]
Younger Canadians are at risk of shouldering any future deficit in the expanded Canada Pension Plan if it experiences shortfalls in investment returns, according to a new report by the C.D. Howe Institute. The institute’s report references calculations by Canada’s chief actuary, published in October 2016, that predicted the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board must earn an […]
Now is the time for employers to start looking at the Canada Pension Plan enhancements and their potential affects on workplace pension plans, said lawyer Stephanie Kalinowski during an event in Toronto on Wednesday. “Especially for [defined contribution] plans, in particular, it’s really an opportunity to step back and look at your overall plan design.” […]
It’s time to bring innovation to federal employee pension plans, Keith Ambachtsheer and Jim Leech wrote in an open letter to Finance Minister Bill Morneau last week. As it stands, these defined benefit plans place the full risk on taxpayers and could become “the Titantics of the 21st century,” note Ambachtsheer, director emeritus of the International Centre […]
When Britain’s former economic watchdog, the Office of Fair Trading, published a report in 2013 about the country’s workplace defined contribution pension market, it was the latest call in the country’s ongoing conversation about pension governance and delivering value for money to plan members. The report estimated more than 186,000 pension plans in the country […]
Proposed changes to the pension plan for members of the Newfoundland and Labrador legislature have been deferred following objections by the opposition parties. The move followed a Liberal proposal at the end of February that suggested the province’s House of Assembly Management Commission explore moving to a defined contribution pension for members elected on or […]
As the government moves forward on enhancements to the Canada Pension Plan, critics are raising concerns about the absence of a dropout clause for parents who temporarily stop working in order to care of their children. The current CPP allows parents to exclude time away from work during child-rearing years when calculating their contributions. It also […]
Newly-elected members of the House of Assembly in Newfoundland and Labrador could be moved out of their defined benefit pension plan to a defined contribution pension plan instead. On Monday, the Liberal caucus chair Randy Edmunds sent a letter to speaker Tom Osborne suggesting the province’s House of Assembly Management Commission explore moving to a […]
The interest in pension funding rules is as great as ever, with changes taking effect in Quebec in 2016 and a review of funding rules in Ontario currently underway. For plan sponsors, members and other interested parties that would like to have a better understanding of how defined benefit pension funding rules work, it’s useful […]