CARP carried your support for a Universal Pension Plan to the Committee. As we speak almost 4,000 of you have responded to our online survey, which allowed us to show the Committee that 88% of CARP Action Online readers supported a portable, Universal Pension Plan based on the CPP architecture for the nearly 1 in 3 Canadians without any retirement savings.

“In the current climate, you will see headlines that you’ve never seen before, including the fact that even the gold-plated pension plans, that indexed defined benefit plans, are at risk. The only pension fund that is not at risk is the CPP, and it has performed better than all the others we’ve seen. So the question then becomes, during this economic crisis, which has affected even the retirement security of those with pension funds, what should be done and what should be done immediately?” said Eng.

Ms. Eng also called for immediate relief for today’s retirees in the form of a two year moratorium on RRIF withdrawals, unlocking Locked-in Funds [LIFs} as well as improved income supports for those relying on Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplements. “One of the core goals of any country’s pension system is to prevent poverty in the older population. OAS, CPP and GIS play an important role but more needs to be done to help older Canadians living in poverty,” she said.

To read news coverage of CARP’s Ottawa presentation click here

Jonathan Chevereau at the Financial Post has also blogged about the highlights from the presentation here As well as support we have received for the Universal Pension Plan here