After reaching a near 40-year high over the past year, headline inflation started to cool in the final months of 2022 following a series of aggressive interest rate hikes by the Bank of Canada. According to Statistics Canada, the consumer price index was up 6.3 per cent year over year in December, down from a […]
Similar to 2022, the coming year will present both challenges and opportunities for defined benefit pension plan sponsors, with the rewards going to plan sponsors that are resilient, embrace change and are willing and able to act when opportunities arise. Several trends that will be top of mind in the year ahead are: Inflation The […]
For some Canadians, the term pension may still conjure images of a secure stash of money guaranteed to ensure a comfortable lifestyle in retirement. I should know — until joining Benefits Canada in 2020, I counted myself among this group. Defined benefit pension plans — the epitome of the image described above — still exist, but […]
The Financial Services Tribunal of Ontario has awarded an employer with a $320,000 pension surplus, despite the plan’s trust agreements’ silence as to surplus entitlement. “The requirements for an employer to receive 100 per cent of surplus are strict, but the tribunal took a practical [approach] as opposed to a narrow interpretive approach to the […]
In the Expert Commission on Pensions’ 2008 review of Ontario’s pension system, it recommended an agency or unit of the provincial government serve as a pension champion. According to the commission, the pension champion’s responsibilities would include working closely with stakeholders, promoting and facilitating innovation in the pension system and leading policy development efforts in […]