Can employers shift responsibility when it comes to their employees’ retiree healthcare benefits? It appears so. General Motors(GM)has made headlines by agreeing to create a VEBA(Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association), a tax-exempt trust that is used to prefund employee health and welfare benefits. Last month, the automotive giant agreed to pay $26.5 billion into a […]
Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group, an asset management company in Toronto, announced yesterday its formation of Connor, Clark & Lunn Infrastructure Ltd.(CC&L Infrastructure), a business that will invest in middle market infrastructure assets and companies in North America. CC&L Infrastructure will focus on traditional projects(roads and bridges)and energy projects(power generation facilities). These projects will […]
Although investment in emerging markets continues to climb, Canadian companies aren’t giving as much thought to risk management strategies as they should be, according to a recent survey by Ernst & Young. Ernst & Young’s Risk Management in Emerging Markets survey indicated that 60% of Canadian companies have no emerging market risk management strategy in […]
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce(OCC), Ontario’s business advocate, presented its case for pension reform at the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions yesterday. The OCC explained that defined benefit(DB)pension plans are fast becoming unsustainable. The acting chair of the OCC Finance committee, Winton Woo, described the current funding rules as unnecessarily burdensome on employers. “It’s like […]
It’s sunny days for Canadian pension plans. According to a survey by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Canadian plans’ funded ratios are the highest they’ve been in five years. The survey indicated that the funded ratio(that is, the ratio of assets to liabilities)of the typical defined benefit pension plan was 105% at the end of last month. […]
The Alberta and British Columbia governments have decided to appoint a joint panel to review pension standards. The governments will collaborate to review the two provinces’ pension legislation: Alberta’s Employment Pension Plans Act and British Columbia’s Pension Benefits Standards Act. The six-member panel will consult with stakeholders and present its findings and recommendations to the […]
Canada is the only developed country without a national securities regulator. And the six panelists at the peer-to-peer roundtable, held Friday afternoon at the Toronto Stock Exchange, were all in agreement that it’s about time this changed. “A common securities regulator [CSR] would make the regulation of our markets more responsive, more accountable by creating […]
It’s no surprise that good, happy workplaces can result in employee satisfaction, engagement and loyalty. But good benefits plans can also play a role, as results from the 2007 sanofi-aventis Healthcare Survey, presented today in Toronto, indicate. Other than salary, survey respondents defined a “good job” as being treated well by an organization(96%), having supportive […]
Erol Uzumeri has been named the new manager for the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan’s $8-billion private equity and venture capital portfolio. Joining Teachers’ in 2003, Uzumeri is currently responsible for international private equity investments and has been involved in a number of acquisitions at Teachers’, including Toshiba Ceramics and New Zealand Yellow Pages Group. Mark […]
John Watson continues to mentor young investors and pass along his years of experience. John Watson says he bleeds blue. Leafs paraphernalia—including a huge photograph of the last game at Maple Leaf Gardens—punctuates his 13th floor office at Sprucegrove Investment Management in Toronto. Born and raised in Toronto, the fit 63-year-old also plays hockey year-round […]