Manitoba should initiate an overall pension funding reform review similar to other provinces rather than continuing to rely on temporary solvency relief measures, according to Kevin Fahey, chair of the Pension Investment Association of Canada. In a letter to Linda Buchanan, acting superintendent of pensions at the province’s pension commission, Fahey’s comments and recommendations stem […]
China sees Canada as a valuable source of expertise as both countries grapple with the needs of an aging population that’s increasingly retired, according to the head of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. “China faces very similar demographic issues and pension challenges that Canada has faced and continues to face. When you put the […]
Forget the buzz around new target-benefit legislation. Multi-employer pension plans were here first, starting about 50 years ago. Particularly common in unionized, mobile workforces such as the construction and entertainment industries, most multi-employer plans essentially function as target benefits “because they do have the ability to reduce accrued benefits,” says Mike Mazzuca, a partner at Koskie […]
More than a year after its implementation, Quebec’s shift to going-concern funding obligations for defined benefit pension plans has already led to some positive results for employers. “On average, in our experience, employers’ costs have been reduced by 40 per cent,” says Natasha Monkman, a pension and benefits lawyer at Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie […]
The federal government’s advisory council on economic growth has released its second wave of recommendations that include extending the age of eligibility for the Canada Pension Plan, establishing a reasonable process for requesting flexible working arrangements and creating a universal subsidized childcare program to get more women into the workforce. The advisory council believes allowing CPP and […]
While reforms to the Canada Pension Plan are well underway, the debate on what to do with the Quebec Pension Plan is just getting started as the provincial government launches consultations on what the changes will look like in that province. While one of the options the province is considering is to change the QPP […]
Though Canada’s retirement income system was ranked eighth among 27 countries by the 2016 Melbourne Mercer Global Index, it also revealed the weaknesses in our retirement system. These weaknesses include that: three in four private sector workers don’t have access to an employer-sponsored pension plan; the level of household savings for middle-income earners is insufficient; […]
While the Association of Canadian Pension Management is in favour of enhancing the Quebec Pension Plan, it’s calling for a targeted solution to the problem of inadequate retirement income in the province. In a submission to the public consultation on QPP reform, Bryan Hocking, the association’s chief executive officer, noted that any changes to Quebec’s retirement […]
For many people, the mere mention of European Union rules conjures up images of red tape and bureaucratic minefields. So it’s hardly surprising that Europe’s pension industry wasn’t thrilled with the newly released results of the first-ever European Union-mandated stress test of occupational pensions. Critics charge the information the exercise provided has been available all […]
A comparison of pension systems in Canada and Britain isn’t an apples-to-apples exercise — or even apples to grapefruits. But when it comes to pension reform, there are definitely overarching lessons for Canada. Britain’s reforms, of which auto-enrolment is a signature component, got underway in October 2012 with the country’s largest employers mandated to automatically […]