Op-Eds
Je ne cherche pas à vous vendre le pont Samuel-De Champlain, croyez-moi ! Seulement à vous convaincre qu’il est opportun de considérer le financement des infrastructures publiques par les caisses de retraite, qui ont besoin de ces actifs pour assurer le paiement de nos rentes.
Il y a quelques jours, Mark Machin, le patron d’Investissements RPC, qui gère les 457 milliards de dollars du Régime de pension du Canada, le grand frère du Régime des rentes du Québec, lui géré par la Caisse de dépôt, a suggéré que les gouvernements à court d’argent devraient vendre les aéroports, les routes à péage, les sociétés de services public et autres infrastructures publiques.
« Il y a tellement de capital qui court…
Les Québécois ont raison d’être fiers de leur Caisse de dépôt et placement, qui gère avec efficience les avoirs de leur Régime de rentes et ceux des fonds de pension de presque tous les employés du secteur public. Malheureusement, les employés des municipalités et des universités n’ont pas cette chance.
Je connais un grand nombre de gestionnaires de régimes de retraite des villes et des universités et je sais que ce sont des gens dévoués et compétents. Toutefois, leurs caisses étant plus petites, ils n’ont pas accès aux mêmes ressources, aux mêmes occasions de placement et doivent assumer des coûts plus élevés, qui pénalisent tant leurs participants que leurs employeurs et, en fin de compte, les contribuables.
La Caisse…
In recent weeks, Ottawa has announced several financial assistance measures for those most affected by the COVID-19 crisis. They include increased flexibility for employment insurance benefits, generous wage subsidies for businesses, and an emergency response benefit of $500 per week for affected workers and caregivers. But these programs pose implementation challenges that could result in Canadians waiting weeks to receive the financial assistance they need, assuming they qualify at all.
An unprecedented demand spike is already challenging the capacity of the employment insurance system, especially with Ottawa having closed Service Canada outlets across the country. Technical difficulties around eligibility conditions for the…
The single-employer pension plan model is dying. We do not need to mourn its demise, but we do need to replace it.
In a recent report published by the C.D. Howe Institute, we promote the implementation of new private-sector pension plans in Canada based on a better governance model. Rather than being sponsored by single employers, the new plans would be sponsored by multiple employers and governed by independent management boards that include representation from all stakeholders. Scale is of the essence. These new plans could be either of a target-benefit pension plan variety (TBPP) or of a collective defined-contribution pension plan type (CDCP).
The names sound complicated, but the essential elements aren’t.
A…
For much of the last decade, Canadians have been told their debt levels were unsustainable and that their day of reckoning was fast approaching. Data recently released by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy (OSB) seem to indicate that day has arrived. According to the data, insolvencies by Canadian consumers were up 9.2 per cent in October 2018, compared to a year earlier.
To say the least, these results appear alarming. But in light of what we know about homeownership and net worth, we are not so sure. The data show that Canadians’ net worth has never been higher. Moreover, the data do not distinguish between the more harmful economic effects from households in negative net asset positions, or balance sheet…
