While defined contribution pension plans evolve and defined benefit plans decline, the McGill University pension plan is a true blend of both types — at least for some employees. When Sebastien Betermier, an associate professor of finance at the university’s Desautels Faculty of Management, joined the plan after 2009, a DC arrangement was available for […]
Across Canada, innovative pension plan design options are continuing to emerge for employers considering a move away from traditional single employer, in-house defined benefit or defined contribution plans. During an event last week at Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt LLP’s office in Toronto, four pension industry professionals shared their experiences developing new plan design options. Speaking […]
Unionized employees of the Aluminerie de Bécancour Inc. aluminum smelter in Quebec, who’ve been locked out for nearly 18 months, have accepted the company’s latest offer, which includes larger employer contributions to the defined benefit pension plan. At a general membership meeting earlier this week in Trois-Rivières, Que., workers voted by a 79.8 per cent […]
While the Pension Investment Association of Canada is praising Ontario’s 2019 budget proposals, it’s also questioning how the provincial government is planning to implement them. In a letter to provincial Finance Minister Vic Fedeli, the association noted further clarification is needed around the introduction of variable benefits. “While we are pleased that 50 per cent unlocking will be available […]
The Canadian pension industry must go beyond the defined benefit versus defined contribution debate and focus on the model of the future, according to a new report by the C.D. Howe Institute. The report, by actuaries and pension experts Robert Brown and Stephen A. Eadie, proposes a common ground as a starting point for all […]
In its 2019 budget announcement on Thursday, the Ontario government said it’s taking a step towards implementing a framework for target-benefit pension plans. The budget included preliminary legislative changes that would expand the eligibility criteria for multi-employer target-benefit plans to include non-unionized multi-employer plans, in addition to those that are collectively bargained. The move is intended […]
The union representing University of Saskatchewan support workers is one step closer to striking in an ongoing dispute regarding its members’ wages and pensions. Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1975, which has been without a contract since the end of 2015, voted to strike in September 2018 but has been held back by two disputes in front of […]
On Jan. 1, 2018, Germany introduced pension legislation aimed at strengthening workplace pensions by creating a system of collective defined contribution plans. And yet, a year later, not a single plan has been introduced based on the reforms. Speaking at an event in Frankfurt in November 2018, a board member from IG Metall, Germany’s largest […]
The Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1975 is calling for an immediate meeting with the University of Saskatchewan’s board of governors to a find a resolution to the bargaining unrest on campus, which includes issues around the pension plan. The university is proposing to eliminate the current defined benefit plan and replace it with a defined contribution […]
The union representing 1,900 non-academic workers at the University of Saskatchewan is raising objections to a proposal the school has tabled to eliminate its defined benefit pension plan replace it with a defined contribution or target-benefit plan. In December, the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ bargaining committee proposed a jointly sponsored DB plan as a compromise, said […]