In its 2025 budget, the federal government announced several initiatives to incentivize institutional investors to back domestic infrastructure and business ventures. The budget proposed $1 billion on a cash basis over three years, starting in 2026-27, for the Business Development Bank of Canada to launch a venture and growth capital catalyst initiative, a fund-of-funds that […]
An article on Nova Scotia’s updated workplace harassment legislation was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com this past week. Here are the top five human resources, benefits, pension and investment stories of the last week: 1. What Nova Scotia employers need to know about province’s updated workplace harassment legislation 2. Who are the winners of the […]
Some former Hudson’s Bay Co. employees have filed a class-action lawsuit seeking a share of the defunct retailer’s pension surplus. The court filing was made on behalf of workers who were enrolled in a pension plan offered by Simpsons, a rival department store HBC bought in the 1970s. The takeover made HBC the administrator of […]
Nova Scotia’s government is formally recognizing workplace harassment as a health and safety issue with the introduction of new regulations to its Occupational Health and Safety Act. “All employers in Nova Scotia have an obligation to ensure workers’ health and safety — and that obligation now specifically includes a duty to address workplace harassment and […]
Dutch authorities are summoning the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan on alleged evasion of dividend withholding tax worth more than €200 million. Last week, the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service confirmed it was calling on a foreign pension fund based on the suspicion of evasion of dividend withholding tax. The agency didn’t name the Ontario pension […]
For Ontario employers, pay equity compliance journey is an ongoing process and not a one-and-done exercise, said Will Lamond, a principal in the compensation practice at Normandin Beaudry, during a webinar on best pay equity practices in the province. Ontario’s Pay Equity Act requires employers with 10 or more employees to maintain equivalent levels of […]
The continuation fund model is a balanced response to open market uncertainty alongside high interest rates and volatility, according to Paul Smith, a partner at Stewart McKelvey, during a session at the Canadian Investment Review’s 2025 Alternative Investment Conference. Under the traditional private equity fund model, the investment vehicle has a fixed life, typically between […]
An article on an arbitrator’s confirmation of the long-term disability exception to Ontario’s mandatory retirement rule was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com this past week. Here are the top five human resources, benefits, pension and investment stories of the last week: 1. Ontario arbitrator confirms validity of LTD exception to mandatory retirement rule 2. Insurers […]
An Ontario arbitrator has confirmed the validity of the long-term disability exception to the mandatory retirement rule. When Ontario eliminated mandatory retirement in 2006, the legislation provided an exception for insured employment benefit plans to maintain a cutoff based on age. “This was intended to avoid destabilizing existing insurance plans while still permitting parties to […]
A fifth (22 per cent) of plan sponsors said their organization has seen an uptick in benefits fraud, either by plan members, service providers or organized crime, according to the 2025 Benefits Healthcare Survey. During a panel discussion at Benefits Canada’s 2025 Toronto Benefits Summit last week, Lancelot Lambert, regional vice-president of Ontario and Atlantic […]