On Nov. 27, 2009, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down a decision in Plourde v. Wal-Mart Canada Corp., which upheld a long-standing principle of Quebec cases that recognized an employer’s right to close its business, even for reasons relating to unionization of its workforce, according to a release by Ogilvy Renault. History After the […]
Canada’s banking sector recently emerged from the global economic crisis as a model of stability and prudence, but the same cannot be said of the country’s pension system. The complicated patchwork of legislation, jurisdiction, and regionalism which defines Canada’s retirement regime is antiquated and in dire need of reform. In conjunction with the C.D. Howe […]
The lack of any asset allocation structure by Canadian regulators for default investment options in defined contribution (DC) plans leaves plan sponsors exposed to many types of legal risk. But careful planning and ongoing evaluation has a mitigating effect, according to a legal expert. Speaking at a pension seminar on Thursday in Toronto, Randy Bauslaugh, […]
Emails, meetings and intranet sites are just a few of the mediums being used in the effort to communicate pandemic policies to employees, in some cases at great cost. But how do employers know if the message is getting through? A new web-based quiz purports to provide an answer within 15 minutes. A free e-learning […]
For the majority of organizations around the world, improving productivity by keeping employees healthy and working is emerging as the top business objective, with stress singled out as the prime threat to health, according to a survey. Buck Consultants’ third annual global wellness survey, Working Well: A Global Survey of Health Promotion and Workplace Wellness […]
The efforts of many Canadian plan sponsors are being devoted to risk exposure, employee communication and education around retirement income adequacy, a recent survey reveals. Hewitt Associates’ Canadian Retirement Trends 2009 survey of 196 organizations finds that two-thirds of capital accumulation plan (CAP) sponsors are likely to conduct a comprehensive review of their investment fund […]
A revised version of the Regulation to Amend the Regulation Respecting Supplemental Pension Plans has been released by the Gazette officielle du Québec, according to a Watson Wyatt Infoflash. The revised regulation will come in force on Jan. 1, 2010, the same day as the solvency and funding provisions of Bill 30. The revised regulation […]
Alberta Finance Minister Iris Evans says the federal government has a window of opportunity to reform the country’s pension system, after which her province—along with British Columbia—will take matters into their own hands. “I don’t want to be pushy here, but I really believe it’s time for movement forward,” Evans told Canwest News Service. The […]
Describing the country’s pension situation as “dire,” the head of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) has called on the federal and provincial governments to undertake major reforms in order to preserve the defined benefit (DB) pension plan in Canada. Speaking to a gathering of actuaries on Tuesday in Toronto, CIA president Robert Howard praised […]
It pays to be an optimist in this industry. Indeed, it couldn’t be any other way. Money managers are, by necessity, natural believers in the markets’ ability to provide returns—so long as prudence and foresight are wielded—regardless of the forces acting on the economic landscape. So, as the rest of the country steels itself for […]