UPP: More Delay Tactics

On February 4th 2010, Norma Greenaway reported that the BC Finance Minister was getting cold feet. In this article, Mr Hansen says that a plan for CPP expansion should be rolled out very slowly. Click here to read her article in the Montreal Gazette.

Susan Eng, CARP VP of Advocacy sent this letter to the editor in response:

Re: The longer government waits to address inadequacies in current retirement support system, the harder it will be on future taxpayers

It appears that CARP was a bit hasty in congratulating BC Finance Minister Colin Hansen for taking the lead in confronting Canada’s retirement security crisis. The urgency he reportedly raised in January appears to have disappeared a week later despite his own committee’s report that our pension system needs fixing immediately.

Craig McInnes is right to point out that “When someone retires without the means to support themselves, the next generation of taxpayers has to pick up the slack”.

Pension reform must include a new universal pension plan to let people save adequately for their own retirement. This is about personal responsibility and the proper role of government to help people help themselves.

It is no excuse to say some employers cannot afford to participate without offering any options to encourage them. Bold leadership means clearing the path for the right policies.

Politicians are fond of making grand gestures such as last June’s unanimous parliamentary motion to protect Canadian retirement security. CARP is again calling for action to back up those words starting with the inclusion of pension reform in the federal Throne Speech and any other government promise Minister Hansen is able to influence.

Keywords: pension reform, retirement