At a meeting in Ottawa on Monday, Canada’s finance ministers agreed in principle to a number of additional features in the Canada Pension Plan enhancement that would help further protect the value of retirement benefits during periods of low or no earnings for parents, persons with disabilities and young widows. The proposed changes are: Further support […]
Despite coming improvements to public pension plans, Canada will still be about 10 percentage points behind the average net replacement rate for the typical worker across Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. Future OECD average replacement rates for the full-career, average-wage worker will reach 63 per cent, according to the organization’s annual report on pension systems […]
The British Columbia Court of Appeal has dismissed injured veterans’ pension claims against the federal government because they had “no chance of success.” “It’s difficult to understand the claim at all, at least not without completely reimagining our constitutional framework,” says David Rankin, an associate in Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP’s Toronto office. “The decision […]
Compared to other high-income countries, Canada is doing very little to prepare for the “greying of society,” according to a new study by public policy think-tank the Fraser Institute. Among G7 countries, Canada is the only one without a plan to increase the age of eligibility for government retirement programs, noted the study. The former Conservative federal […]
A new report is recommending the immediate increase of the trigger age for drawing down registered retirement savings, suggesting it should continue to rise with longevity. The report, published by the C.D. Howe Institute, is targeting changes to age-sensitive programs, noting the expected budget crunch for Canadian governments as the workforce ages. It says the rules that dictate when Canadians can start receiving […]
The days of working for one employer and contributing to a single pension plan for an entire career are long over. In fact, 28 per cent of Canadians surveyed by Workopolis Inc. in 2014 had already had between five and 10 jobs, and Statistics Canada figures show defined benefit membership is continuing to fall while […]
New Brunswick has tabled amendments to the province’s Financial Administration Act in an effort to prohibit special pensions or payments to staff as part of leadership changes. “Your government is taking action to fix the problem of outgoing governments of the past awarding special pensions or payments to staff after an election,” said New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant, in a […]
The large number of Canadians who fear the Canada Pension Plan won’t be around when they retire reflects a misplaced belief, said Canada Pension Plan Investment Board president and chief executive officer Mark Machin on Tuesday. Machin discussed the sustainability of the national pension plan during his keynote speech at a 2017 symposium held in Toronto by Advocis, the […]
The Ontario government has introduced a bill that, if passed, will enact several changes to the Pension Benefits Act. “This is a significant step,” says Stephanie Kalinowski, a partner at Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP, of Bill 177. “Some of these items we’ve been waiting on for a number of years.” First, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of […]
Over the past 10 years, assets in pension plans registered in Alberta have reached $54 billion, an increase of 149 per cent, according to a new report published by the province’s pension regulator. The superintendent of pensions’ 2016 report, published last week, looked at the 753 pension plans under its supervision. The total includes 182 defined benefit plans, 451 […]