Executive Summary

For many years the OFL has fought for pension improvements for working people in Ontario.  Most recently, under the Eves Conservative Government, the OFL lobbied and made written submissions on the issue of pension surpluses.

This effort, together with the strong opposition of plan members and retirees across the province, forced the Government to back off its attempt to fundamentally alter pension provisions on surpluses in favour of employers.

Campaigns and lobbying activities have continued to the present.  Yet it is some time since delegates to an OFL Convention have debated a pension policy paper.

This policy paper highlights key issues in the field of pensions.

1. The Public Pension System

In the 1960s, there was a major expansion of public pension benefits in Canada.  The new system – the federal Old Age Security (OAS) (which is a universal pension paid to most Canadians over 65) and Guaranteed Income Supplement

(GIS) programs (which is a means tested pension which supplements the income of retirees with little or no income) and the federal/ provincial Canada and Quebec Pension Plans (CPP) – has lifted most, but not all, Canadian seniors out of poverty.  Yet the incomes of older Canadians remain substantially below the incomes of younger age groups.  This is particularly the case for older single women and older immigrants.

Public pensions have made a huge difference for retirees.  They provide:

• universality of coverage, port-ability (you maintain your benefits even if you switch jobs);
• full indexing, they are the most secure (current premium rates of 9.9 percent will ensure CPP financial stability); and
• the most efficient (having low administration costs that no private system can even approximate).

Despite this, public pensions in Canada and around the world have been under constant attack by conservative interests for several decades.