Seniors issues and pensions

This study examines the status of the defined benefit (DB) pension plans of Canada's largest publicly-traded companies. Thirty-nine companies on the S&P/TSX 60 maintain DB pension plans, amounting to one-third of all private sector pension plan assets in Canada. However, only nine plans were fully funded in 2016. Together, the 39 companies oversaw a $10.8 billion deficit in their pension plans in 2016, while increasing shareholder payouts from $31.9 billion in 2011 to $46.9 billion last year.

This report card reviews the federal government's progress in 16 key policy areas at the halfway mark of their term. It finds that, despite some positive first steps, the Liberals’ ambitious talk hasn’t been backed up with the action needed to make these promises a reality. With two years left in the term, the report card includes suggested next steps to help the Liberal government fulfill the progressive agenda they committed to leading up to the election. Among the recommendations:

"Our research indicates that strategies intended to support choices for long-term care residents must be based on the understanding that care is a relationship involving residents, their families and workers. It also means understanding that appropriate conditions of work are central to care as a relationship that allows residents and their families to exercise choices.

In a new Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives MB report on Manitoba’s public-sector pensions, author Hugh Mackenzie dispels many myths about public and private sector pensions. He anchors his analysis in the context of Canada’s retirement income policy and its three main players:  Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS); the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP); and, workplace based pension plans.