In its first federal budget last month, the Liberal government said it would seek additional funding from Canada’s pension funds as it looks to invest more than $120 billion in infrastructure over the next decade.
As noted in the budget, the government plans to “engage public pension plans and other innovative sources of funding.”
According to a story by The Canadian Press, a sentence in the federal budget mentions “asset recycling,” a system designed to raise money to help governments bankroll improvements to existing public infrastructure and, possibly, build new projects.
Read: Budget 2016: Liberals to ‘engage public pension plans’ as part of infrastructure boost
Read: Will public pension funds help bankroll big infrastructure?
Critics have suggested asset recycling is essentially privatization that comes with significant costs and offers only short-term financial gain. The issue is the subject of the current Benefits Canada online poll. Have your say in the poll. Is investment by pension funds in Canadian infrastructure the way to get needed projects built?
As for last week’s poll, which asked whether other provinces should join the Ontario Registered Pension Plan, nearly half (46 per cent) of respondents said governments should prioritize Canada Pension Plan reform before looking at the ORPP.
One-fifth (20 per cent) of respondents felt the provinces need to move proactively on boosting public pension plans in the absence of an enhanced CPP while 35 per cent said the ORPP is the wrong way to go no matter what.