The joint federal-provincial pension reform process is moving too slowly and should include a national forum of regulators and stakeholders, according to a study released Thursday from the C.D. Howe Institute in Toronto.
In Seeking Certainty in Uncertain Times: A Review of Recent Government-sponsored Studies, authors Bob Baldwin and Brian Fitzgerald review the findings of three provincial inquiries into the problems of workplace pension plans and make recommendations for reform.
Three major provincial reviews by Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, and Nova Scotia looked at the need for reform of the regulation and design of workplace pensions. They examined concerns such as declining coverage, deficits of defined benefit plans, the emergence of hybrid alternative plan designs, the lack of harmonization and a common legal framework, and unresolved legal and regulatory issues.
The study’s authors believe a national forum is necessary to get the ball rolling on pension reform, and they offer a detailed analysis of the three provincial inquiries in their report, which is available at http://www.cdhowe.org/pdf/Commentary_310.pdf.
