Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has agreed to convene a meeting with provincial and territorial finance ministers to discuss Alberta’s proposal to withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan. The agreement comes after Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy called for the meeting in a letter to Freeland, saying Alberta’s withdrawal could cause “serious harm.” Freeland says any province […]
An article on the new agreement between Ford of Canada and Unifor was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com over the last week. Here are the five most popular news stories of the week: 1. Ford, Unifor agreement includes significant DC pension improvements, transition to DB plan 2. Alberta deserves more than half CPP assets if it exits program: report […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board returned negative 0.8 per cent during the first quarter of fiscal 2024, according to its latest quarterly report. By June 30, 2023, the investment organization’s net assets reached $575 billion, compared to $570 billion at the end of fiscal 2023. The report noted a net loss of $5 billion […]
Alberta’s finance critic says a report on the feasibility of a provincial replacement for the Canada Pension Plan has been kept back from the public for the past two years. In a press conference held last week, Shannon Phillips, a member of the New Democratic Party and opposition finance critic, criticized the United Conservative Party […]
In 2000, the federal government announced same-sex partners of Canada Pension Plan beneficiaries could claim survivor benefits, as long as their bereavement had occurred no earlier than 1998. This was of cold comfort to George Hislop, whose partner Ron Shearer had died in 1986. In 2003, the LGBTQ2S+ rights advocate and businessperson launched a class […]
At the beginning of April, the OPSEU Pension Trust made a change to a definition in its plan text that will have meaningful implications for plan members with disabled children who need to continue to rely on their parents into adulthood. The organization expanded the definition of a child eligible for survivor benefits to include […]
Even though it sounds obvious, maximizing retirement income and making it last for life isn’t what drives most retirees when it comes to making decisions — which is contributing to the challenges around decumulation, said Fred Vettese, an author and pension expert, during Benefits Canada‘s 2023 Defined Contribution Plan Summit. “The hurdles we have to […]
In December 2022, the Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia released an unexpected decision: two men, who had been in a polyamorous relationship with a third man for more than a decade, were entitled to the latter’s survivor pension benefits. The pension plan had originally denied the partners’ application for survivor benefits and had sought […]
Recent amendments to the Quebec Pension Plan to encourage people to work past age 65 offer more flexibility on contributions and retirement age, says Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald, director of financial security research for the National Institute on Ageing at Toronto Metropolitan University. “If people are accumulating a pension, working longer could potentially increase their pension,” says MacDonald, who […]
Millennial workers who rent for their entire careers must save 50 per cent more than homeowners in order to have a sufficient monthly income in retirement, according to a new report by Mercer Canada. The report, which analyzed findings from Mercer’s database, found millennials who rent need to save eight-times their annual salaries to retire […]