New Brunswick’s Conservative party says it will create a task force to deal with problems in the province’s private and public sector pension plans.
Tory Opposition Leader David Alward told the Telegraph-Journal that the recession and recent mill closures are straining the province’s public sector pension system, leaving taxpayers on the hook.
While he would not discuss specifics, Alward explained that the task force will “ensure that New Brunswick has the strictest, strongest protection in Canada to protect private citizens and retirees, but also to bring our current employees—both union and non-union—to the table, as well as to look at long-term solutions to ensure that the public employee pension plans are put back on solid financial ground,” according to the newspaper.
A 2009 report by New Brunswick’s Auditor General Mike Ferguson revealed that the province was facing a deficit of up to $260 million in public servants’ pensions, the cost of which had increased by 50%.
The provincial Liberal and NDP parties are expected to table their own pension reform ideas soon.
