Restless institutional investors eager for fresh perspectives on liability driven investing propelled a 22% increase in global search activity in 2009, according to Mercer. The consultant advised on 826 manager searches globally last year, up from 676 in 2008, representing US$97.2 billon in assets placed by 406 institutional investors. Canada Canadian search activity increased from […]
Ontario’s assistant deputy minister of health is the subject of death threats, reports the Toronto Star. The first salvos in the battle between the Ontario government and the pharmacy industry featured heated rhetoric and reduced store hours in the health minister’s riding. This week, both sides took to the airwaves in a PR offensive. Now, […]
Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews says the government’s push to lower generic drug prices and eliminate subsidies paid to pharmacists will result in either lower premiums or improved coverage for health benefits plans, reports the Toronto Star. “All employees should be well aware that their premiums should come down…or the range of services expanded,” Matthews […]
Funding ratios of federally regulated private pension plans improved in the second half of 2009, but many still face funding issues, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI). The regulator released the results of its latest solvency testing of federally regulated private defined benefit pensions on Thursday. While finding that the […]
The war of words between Ontario’s pharmacy industry and the provincial government over changes to generic drug prices continued Thursday as vice-chair of Ontario Pharmacists’ Association Janet McCutchon spoke to a gathering of pharmacists in Toronto. However, in contrast to the confrontational tone struck earlier in the week by industry giants Shoppers Drug Mart and […]
A Toronto hotel provided the forum for comprehensive and spirited debate on Canada’s retirement system on Wednesday. Speaking at the Conference Board of Canada’s Summit on the Future of Pensions, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan president John Crocker delivered a staunch defense of defined benefit (DB) plans, explaining that the emerging conventional wisdom of DB […]
Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty seems to be leaning towards a private sector solution to address the shortcomings of Canada’s retirement system, reports the Globe and Mail. Speaking to reporters ahead of the National Retirement Income Summit in Calgary on Monday, Flaherty was cool to suggestions by labour groups that the Canada Pension Plan benefit […]
While the pharmacy industry will not be sending flowers to Queen’s Park any time soon, employers and benefit plan sponsors may be in for substantial savings. The Ontario government’s decision to reduce generic drug prices to 25% of the cost of the original brand name drug over the next three years and ban professional allowances […]
Nine trustees of the Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension Plan (CCWIPP) have been slapped with a total fine of $202,500 for a breaching their fiduciary duty, reports the Toronto Star. Ontario Justice Beverly Brown imposed fines of $18,000 on each trustee, plus victim surcharges of $4,500 for breaches to the Pension Benefits Act (PBA). The […]
Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews unveiled sweeping new regulations on Wednesday aimed at lowering costs for generic drugs and pharmacy services, but the pharmacy industry warns that they may ultimately have the opposite effect. Matthews told a Toronto audience that the fifty-fold difference in the price of drugs between consumers in the U.S. versus Ontario […]