Ontario and most other provinces have recommended a “modest” increase to CPP premiums over a period of time, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper rejected that out of hand Thursday.
Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Georgetti said he was astonished and disappointed with Flaherty’s new proposal.
“Everybody knows that the best way to ensure the retirement security of Canadians is to enhance the CPP,” Georgetti said. “There is overwhelming evidence that the private sector, voluntary system of saving for retirement has failed us for over 40 years and won’t work now.”
Susan Eng, vice-president of advocacy for CARP, an advocacy group for older Canadians, said its members welcome any moves to provide a long-awaited improvement in pension security.
But she said Flaherty, in exchange for providing a new source of business to financial institutions, must demand commitments not to gouge pension savers through high administrative fees. To protect the public, there should also be guarantees to ensure benefit adequacy and ethical performance by administrators, she said.
“You’re about to hand some billions of dollars in business over to a monopoly” of banks and insurance companies, Eng said in an interview. “So, before you hand over all this business, let’s talk about some regulations.”
Keywords: pension reform, CPP, PRPP
