Are better pensions coming to low-income workers in Ontario?

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Will low-income workers get a chance to benefit from the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan, as intended? Or could Ontario employers find a way to string employees along on jobs paying less than $3,500 a year, thereby avoiding having to contribute to the ORPP on their behalf? The answer is likely not — at least not legally.

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Why Benefits for Low-Income Seniors Shouldn’t Stand in the Way of CPP Expansion

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Dean Connor, President and CEO of Sun Life Financial, received $7.7 million in compensation in 2014, double his payout from 4 years earlier, and enough to place him 50th on the list of top-paid CEOs in Canada.

So it took a certain amount of chutzpa for Mr. Connor to tell the similarly well-heeled audience of the Economic Club of Canada, as he did in November last year, that the 60% of employed Canadians earning under $50,000 a year don’t need, and shouldn’t get, an improvement in Canada Pension Plan benefits. According to Mr. Connor, low and modest income earners need all the take-home pay they can get, and in any case, they’re already saving enough for retirement.

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Canadian Pension Plan Disability is Failing Many of the Most Vulnerable Canadians

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It is a disgrace that many Canadians, with long-lasting and severe disabilities, have to wait for years to see if they can get CPPD benefits.

Working Canadians, even the self-employed, contribute to the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) our national public pension plan. The Canada Pension Plan Disability (CPPD) is the largest long-term disability insurance program in Canada under the CPP.

For Canadians who contributed to the CPP during their working years, qualifying for CPPD is very difficult due to the requirements of “severe and prolonged disability” – an ongoing issue.  Canadians who paid into the CPP are entitled to benefits when they need it most. [Read more…]

Christmas tales from the CFIB

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Can a myth be “technically true,” and still be a myth?  Can peer-reviewed academic research findings be dismissed as mythology, when no opposing evidence or argumentation is presented?  These, and other holiday head-scratchers, courtesy of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business’ “Myths versus Reality” on the Canada Pension Plan.

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Pension Funds, Financialization, and Lacklustre Investment

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In recent debates over the reform of national pension systems, and especially the shift from pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) financing of public pensions to pre-funded arrangements, the labour movement has repeatedly stressed an important point. Regardless of whether pension costs are borne by contributors when benefits are paid or when they are accrued, future pension benefits are a claim on future production, and are ultimately paid out of future national income. That is, no matter how the pension scheme is financed today, future retirees’ consumption will be supported by allocating a portion of future output and income to pensioners.

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Pension contributions are rising, but what if you don’t have a pension?

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Are Canadians saving enough for retirement?  What can contributions to retirement plans tell us about saving levels?

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