: Pension and Retirement Income System Reform

The Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund Final Report

Introduction

The Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund (PBGF) provides protection to Ontario members and beneficiaries of privately sponsored single-employer defined benefit pension plans in the event of plan sponsor insolvency. It is the only fund of its kind in Canada and is administered by the Superintendent of Financial Services for the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO). The PBGF is intended to be self financing through annual premiums based on per-member and partially risk-related fees. Participation in the PBGF is mandatory for most defined benefit pension plans registered in Ontario.

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Roundtables on Retirement Income

The Honourable Dwight Duncan, Ontario Minister of Finance, is hosting discussions on the retirement income system with individuals, organizations, associations and other stakeholders as part of the Ontario’s review of options for improving retirement income security for tomorrow’s seniors. 

The objectives of this retirement income system dialogue are:

1. To hear Ontarian’s thoughts on today’s retirement income system;
2. To obtain suggestions on how to improve Canada’s retirement income system;
3. To solicit comments on the options proposed;
4. To encourage discussion of trade-offs and costs; and
5. To identify areas of common ground or compromise among stakeholders.

The focus of the discussion will be around the following three questions:

1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of Canada’s retirement income system?  What research or evidence demonstrates that people are not saving enough for retirement?  How would you define “enough”, and how much weight should be placed on personal choice?
2. What are some of the possible options government should consider in strengthening Canada’s retirement income system for tomorrow’s seniors?
3. How would your options or proposal be implemented? Please provide details of how your proposal would work, what you think it might cost, how costs would be allocated (among employees, employers, tax payers, etc), and how other stakeholders may be affected.

• Presentation: Canada’s Retirement Income System: Issues and Options
  Ontario’s Public Consultations on Canada’s Retirement Income System

Research Study on the Canadian Retirement Income System

In preparation for the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Financial Minister’s Meeting in Whitehorse, the Ontario government commissioned Bob Baldwin, a recognized expert on pension policy, to prepare a report on the capacity of Canada’s retirement income system (RIS) to provide retirement incomes in the future. 

Bob Baldwin was an Expert Advisor for the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions and former Director of Social and Economic Policy for the Canadian Labour Congress.

Ontario has been working together with stakeholders including pensioners, unions, plan members and sponsors, as well as with the federal government and other provinces and territories, to examine how Canada’s retirement income system can be strengthened for future retirees. The federal government produced its own report, written by tax expert Jack Mintz.

• Ontario's Research Study on the Canadian Retirement Income System, by Bob Baldwin
• Summary Report on Retirement Income Adequacy, by Jack Mintz