Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP) Consutation Meeting

The Associate Minister of Finance, Minister Mitzie Hunter, is having community consultation meetings across Ontario to get the input of community members on the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP). One of those consultation meetings will be taking place in Mississauga and it is an opportunity for CARP members to appear at the meeting to add CARP’s voice to the conversations. CARP Mississauga Chapter 35 encourages you and all CARP members from our Chapter to attend the meeting, representing CARP and your local CARP Mississauga Chapter 35.

Date: Friday, February 6, 2015
Time: 4:00pm-5:30pm
Location: The International Centre, 6900 Airport Road

If you are able to attend the meeting, please RSVP directly to [email protected].

CARP’s Position on the ORPP

• CARP is in support of the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP) as it is aimed to provide greater retirement pension security for all working Ontarians.
• The ORPP should aim to provide retirement security for as many people as possible but in particular, the middle-income earners as most middle-income workers do not have access to a pension plan
• The ORPP should have the features of CARP’s long-proposed Universal Pension Plan:
  1) is independent of government or single employers;
  2) uses existing enrolment and administration mechanisms (specifically mandatory enrolment);
  3) is professionally management with low fees;
  4) is large enough to ensure stability; and
  5) has portability with predictable benefits.
• Low-income earners should have the option to join the ORPP but governments must address the financial burdens that it would have on low-income earners

READ CARP’s original Pension Reform Paper:https://carp-20230727.s3.amazonaws.com/2015/01/Pension-Paper-Oct-2014.pdf

 

Why a public pension plan Ontario Retirement Pension Plan is needed?

–          People are not saving enough for their retirement, e.g. the median RRSP value in 2005 was only $30,000, and in 2011, only 4.5% of the total RRSP room available to eligible tax-filers was used

–          People are afraid of outliving their savings as they expect to live longer

–          Two-thirds of the workforce (approx. 12 million Canadians) do not have workplace pension plans

–          600,000 seniors currently live in poverty and many more straddle the low-income threshold

 

What have our members said?

• Wide agreement (80%) among CARP members that the ORPP is an effective solution for the pension problem.
• 70% of CARP members believe that other provinces should follow suit
• More than half (54%) of members think PRPPs are “comparable” to the ORPP
• Strongest support still reserved for the CPP