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The risky business of “junk pensions”

The pension plight of a family friend has put me in a somewhat ugly mood. This man, Bill (not his real name), went to university with my father, and I have known him and his family all of my life. Over dinner at my parents’ a few weeks ago, Dad told me that the company Bill worked for until his retirement—now called Catalyst Paper—is in financial difficulty and Bill is worried about his pension. Dad thought maybe I could help.

  • May 16, 2012 September 13, 2019
  • 14:18

Quebec offers (at last!) PRPP leadership

Yesterday, the Quebec government tabled its 2012 budget, which included detailed provisions for the voluntary retirement savings plan (VRSP). The VRSP is Quebec’s version of the pooled registered pension plan (PRPP).

  • March 21, 2012 September 13, 2019
  • 13:33

How SMEs can achieve pension fairness

Instead of advocating that public sector pensions be slashed as an emotional response to pension envy, small and medium-sized private sector businesses might more productively seek ways to achieve pension fairness by building their own retirement programs.

  • March 5, 2012 September 13, 2019
  • 11:53

The war on public sector pensions

In 2011, a propaganda war was launched attacking the generous pensions paid to Canadian public sector workers.

  • January 13, 2012 September 13, 2019
  • 14:05

Feds miss the mark in PRPP Act

On November 17, the Pooled Registered Pension Plan Act was tabled in the House of Commons. The explicitly stated purpose of the Act “is to provide a legal framework for the establishment and administration of a type of pension plan that is accessible to employees and self-employed persons and that pools the funds in members’ accounts to achieve lower costs in relation to investment management and plan administration.”

  • November 28, 2011 September 13, 2019
  • 10:16

Claim deadlines looming for 2010 pension entity GST/HST rebates

There is an estimated $300 million per year available for GST/HST pension entity rebates—an average of approximately $25,000 per eligible plan—but much of that money may not be recovered for plan fiscal years ending in 2010. Pension entities can now claim 33% of GST/HST paid by the plan, plus the amount of any GST/HST deemed […]

  • October 13, 2011 September 13, 2019
  • 10:53

Why CFIB "Pension Tension" campaign is all wrong

Last December, I wrote an op/ed article in the Financial Post asking CPP expansionists to “Dial down the rhetoric on pensions” (FP Comment, Dec. 22, 2010). In this article, I call upon the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) to do the same. The CFIB has recently launched an aggressive attack on public sector pensions. […]

  • August 29, 2011 September 13, 2019
  • 12:29

Why DC pensions can be better than DB

The Institute for Research on Public Policy recently published a paper by economist Keith Horner entitled A New Pension Plan for Canadians: Assessing the Options, in which he concludes Canadians would be better served by proposals to expand the CPP, which delivers DB pensions, over other options such as the pooled registered pension plan (PRPP) […]

  • July 20, 2011 September 13, 2019
  • 14:17

No room for excuses on new GST/HST tax filings

The pieces to the GST/HST puzzle for trustees and sponsors of registered pension plans and other employee benefits plans are now all out of the box and ready for assembly for June 30 tax filings. As the last pieces of the puzzle, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has just published two new documents: Notice 265 […]

  • June 3, 2011 September 13, 2019
  • 11:02

What’s your party’s pension reform agenda

As I write this, the first federal election campaign of 2011 is entering the home stretch. I say “first,” because the discordant tenor of the election rhetoric leads one to wonder how another minority government might possibly function for any length of time. From my perspective, the most exciting part of this election is that […]

  • April 28, 2011 September 13, 2019
  • 09:40