We’ve been called Maple Revolutionaries and the new masters of the universe. For years now, it has been a heady thing to be one of Canada’s largest public sector defined benefit plans. The Canadian model, as it is known, is respected around the world. And the results speak for themselves. Take my own plan, OPTrust. […]
The Ontario government announced in its last budget that it would provide the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan with the legal authority to act as an investment manager for smaller pension plans. This budgetary announcement was quickly followed by a speech from the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) president, in which he announced both a […]
The Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions report has left single employer plans on the sidelines. The Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions (OECP) carried a heavy burden on its shoulders, not the least of which was the burden of high expectations from the sponsors of single employer pension plans (SEPPs). For much of the last 25 […]
Recent court decisions on pension surplus ownership have turned to plan documentation, but there are still no final answers. Rulings of the Ontario Court of Appeal in cases such as Kerry Canada Inc. v. DCA Employee Pension Committee (Kerry) and Burke v. Hudson’s Bay Company (Burke) have led some to express hope that courts are […]
The case for a principles-based regulatory pension system for single-employer pension plans governed by both plan members and plan sponsors. The search for a better way to regulate pension plans is underway in Canada. Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Ontario have all appointed expert commissions to determine if the way defined benefit pension plans […]
After months of digging through research and mining public opinion, the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions offers some hope for the future of defined benefit plans. The Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions has been engaged in a busy schedule of activities since its work began last May. Since the fall, the Commission has completed public […]
The Special Authorization process saves employers and insurers money, but at what cost? Healthcare receives a lot of media coverage, so it’s easy to assume that this area of public debate is well understood. But as is often the case, there’s more to the book than its cover. The lack of understanding around healthcare is […]
Despite 30 years of evolution and growth, there is still room for legislators to let plan sponsors and members work out their differences. The pension and benefits landscape of 30 years ago had some significantly different features than the landscape of today. In 1977, pension benefits legislation was very much in its infancy. There were […]
Remember the pension world’s “perfect storm”? At the time, the storm was seen as being both unpredictable and ending quickly. From a legal point of view, pension plan administrators may not be able to rely on the belief that they can present themselves as the victims of a storm. Risk, like all other aspects of […]
IN ITS FIRST BUDGET, THE NEWLY-ELECTED HARPER government made an announcement that it would make the solvency funding rules for federally regulated defined benefit (DB)plans more flexible. For plan sponsors, this is a welcome reprieve. For plan beneficiaries, the rules are fair and balanced. For regulators, they could serve as a catalyst for pension reform. […]