When recounting the kind of person Jim Norton was both personally and professionally, Barry Noble, vicepresident, distribution for Manulife Financial in Toronto, recalls an incident when Jim was with Watson Wyatt Worldwide in the mid-1990s. The two of them were meeting with a large client whose drug plan had just been awarded to Manulife. As […]
Ontario municipalities and Canada’s largest civic unions are up in arms over Bill 206, which proposes to restructure the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS). The bill aims to end the government’s role as plan sponsor for OMERS and create a separate Sponsors Board and Administration Board to handle the plan from now on. One […]
© Copyright 2006 Rogers Publishing Ltd. The following article first appeared in the February 2006 edition of BENEFITS CANADA magazine. Frontlines: Wait-time reductions Will plan sponsors pay for wait-time benchmarks? By Joel Kranc The medical benchmarks on wait times agreed to by federal and provincial governments in December 2005 are causing some debate over […]
© Copyright 2006 Rogers Publishing Ltd. The following article first appeared in the February 2006 edition of BENEFITS CANADA magazine. Minority rules The election may be over but Stephen Harper will still have to seek support from his opponents on pension and benefits issues. By Joel Kranc Last month, Canada elected a Conservative government […]
© Copyright 2006 Rogers Publishing Ltd. The following article first appeared in the January 2006 edition of BENEFITS CANADA magazine. Frontlines: A fragile nest egg Is your pension stable but fragile? By Joel Kranc The term “stable but fragile” doesn’t sound good in any context. But that’s what the Office of the Superintendent of […]
© Copyright 2006 Rogers Publishing Ltd. The following article first appeared in the December 2005 edition of BENEFITS CANADA magazine. Frontlines: A watchful eye Trusts are about to get more scrutiny. By Joel Kranc Despite the recent love-in with income trusts in the institutional investment community, plan sponsors will be keeping a watchful eye […]
© Copyright 2006 Rogers Publishing Ltd. The following article first appeared in the December 2005 edition of BENEFITS CANADA magazine. Investment Q&A: Bonding with your manager Plan sponsors need to be aware of the rules governing fixed income benchmarks. Marlene Puffer, Managing director at Twist Financial Corporation in Toronto. By Joel Kranc BC: Is the […]
© Copyright 2006 Rogers Publishing Ltd. The following article first appeared in the November 2005 edition of BENEFITS CANADA magazine. Frontlines: Wrench in the works Ralph Goodale’s income trust stance has the industry abuzz. By Joel Kranc At first glance it appeared like another run of the mill announcement from the federal department of […]
© Copyright 2006 Rogers Publishing Ltd. The following article first appeared in the October 2005 edition of BENEFITS CANADA magazine. Investment Q&A: Alphabetizing your portfolio Can portable alpha let plan sponsors get back to the high-yield returns of the 1990s? By Joel Kranc Dino Bourdos, Vice-president and director with TD Asset Management in Toronto […]
© Copyright 2006 Rogers Publishing Ltd. The following article first appeared in the September 2005 edition of BENEFITS CANADA magazine. Discussing DB Ralph Goodale gives his take on the DB dilemma. By Joel Kranc BC: How do you see the future of DB plans? GOODALE: We are very interested to ensure the pension benefits […]