One of the enduring myths in the Canadian pension scene is that we have held onto our DB plans more tenaciously than the rest of the world. While many Canadian companies have indeed switched to DC, the impression remains that the trend is not as pronounced as it is in the U.S. or the U.K. […]
Canadians should have the choice to make additional voluntary contributions to the Canada Pension Plan in order to avoid facing a significant decline in living standards when they retire, said Gerry McCaughey, president and CEO of CIBC, in a keynote address at the National Summit on Pension Reform, which kicked off yesterday in Fredericton and ends today.
It seems Canada isn't the only country struggling to get its public sector pension arrangements in line with the private sector.
When the federal government introduced legislation to create pooled registered pension plans (PRPPs) for federally regulated employees in November 2011, it confidently predicted that the provinces would pass their own legislation making PRPPs available to provincially regulated employees. But so far, reaction to the PRPPs from provincial governments has been lukewarm at best.
The Harper Government is ringing in the new year with historic public sector pension reforms that will save Canadian taxpayers $2.6 billion over the next five years. The reforms, which came into effect January 1, bring federal employee pension contributions more in line with the private sector by introducing a fifty-fifty cost-sharing model for public […]
Despite the recent changes to public pension plans for members of parliament and other federal public servants, a new paper from the C.D. Howe is saying these changes aren’t enough.
Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives said Monday that taxpayers can no longer afford “gold-plated pension plans” for public sector workers, but the Liberal government called the Opposition’s proposals an American-style attack on the middle class. “We have to address the dramatic unfairness in the system where you have gold-plated pensions for some and no pensions for others,” said Opposition […]
My parents came from a small town in Italy near Monte Cassino. Apart from a famous battle there in World War II, the town is known for its monastery, which was established by St. Benedict in 529 AD, shortly after the continent had descended into the Dark Ages. For the better part of the next millennium when the “light of learning” was all but extinguished in Europe, there were only a few universities and monasteries—such as the one at Monte Cassino—where it continued to flicker.
Touted as a practical solution for those who currently don’t have access to a workplace pension, the pooled registered pension plan (PRPP) also holds the potential to create a new revenue stream for the industry. Several of the large retirement service providers have already jumped at this opportunity and are ready to roll out PRPP […]
The Alberta government has introduced Bill 10, the Employment Pension Plans Act, in the provincial legislature. The bill aims to allow plan administrators to more easily develop pension plans that meet the needs of employers and employees.