While the motion by Sears Canada Inc. retirees to force a windup of the company’s pension plan is in line with a significant body of jurisprudence from the Supreme Court of Canada, that’s not to say there’s any certainty of success. Ultimately, the decision is in the hands of an Ontario Superior Court judge, who enjoys wide discretion. […]
The Ontario government’s announcement in its April budget that it will be addressing the regulatory framework related to defined contribution pension plans has done little to quell the debate about whether modernization and expansion of the existing rules is necessary or desirable. Those in favour say that, as defined contribution plans continue to grow in […]
FSCO report shows pensions lag in reporting.
While compliance with requirements to file statements of investment policies and procedures has reached 94 per cent in Ontario, only 34 per cent of the filers incorporate environmental, social and governance factors into them. The numbers are from a new report by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario. But Hugh O’Reilly, president and chief executive […]
A labour arbitrator has served notice that employees who commit benefit fraud will have a hard time avoiding dismissal. Earlier this summer, arbitrator Eli Gedalof upheld the termination of Diana Spokiene, an associate professor of German studies at York University, for submitting more than 100 false benefit claims totalling more than $8,000 for paramedical services, including physiotherapy […]
Alternative investments have been the name of the game for many of the leaders on Benefit Canada‘s list of the fastest-growing pension funds for 2016. Both the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, ranked third on the list of fastest-growing plans at 10.65 per cent growth, and Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund Board, ranked fourth at 10.6 per […]
A retired lieutenant in the naval reserve has launched a $100-million lawsuit against the Canadian Armed Forces for “chronic, excessive and unreasonable” delay in paying discharged members their pension benefits. Donald Jost, 50, has commenced a proposed class proceeding on behalf of all members of the regular and reserve Canadian forces who were discharged as […]
The City of Saskatoon’s failed attempt to unilaterally change the terms of its pension plan has produced an arbitration ruling that will likely make it more difficult for employers to do so going forward. “The decision expands the law to suggest that past conduct can operate to make a pension plan part of a collective […]
The agreement reached Friday between the City of Montreal and its firefighters does little to lift the uncertainty surrounding Quebec’s legislation requiring municipal workers to contribute equally to their pension funds with employers. The controversial legislation, passed in December 2014 as part of an omnibus pension reform bill, targets municipalities that now account for up to […]
Canadian pension plans’ love affair with foreign ports, particularly those in Australia but extending also to the United Kingdom and the Persian Gulf region, shows no signs of abating, with only an overheated market and a potential shortage of supply standing as roadblocks on the horizon. But with Canada’s federal government looking for pension funds […]