7 results found for "guaranteed annual income"
Op-Ed
Has anyone ever looked at their paycheque and said, “I sure wish they’d take more of my money”? That was the question posed by federal Opposition Leader Rona Ambrose Monday as federal and provincial finance ministers met in Vancouver to discuss proposals to expand the Canada Pension Plan. In the end, they agreed on a sizable expansion of the CPP. Is this what Canadians really want? I honestly…
Op-Ed
What returns can we earn on our saving? In planning for retirement, few questions matter more. Project prudently and all should be well; count on a bonanza that falls through – not so good. What is true for individuals is true for pension plans. Those that forecast conservatively and back their obligations well tend to pay what they promise; those assuming turbo-charged returns to fund rich…
Op-Ed
The government of Ontario is currently looking at ways to address precarious work through a sweeping review of labour legislation and enforcement in the province – other provinces are planning to follow suit. Employment risks are also featured in federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s statements about “job churn” and the persistence of short-term employment. But how bad is the problem and what…
Op-Ed
We have often heard that Canadians are unprepared for retirement. Low interest rates have meant low returns to saving and have accelerated the demise of defined-benefit pension plans in the private sector. People — we are told — are not saving enough for retirement to compensate. But such fears of retirement unpreparedness are overblown. Studies on the subject have typically ignored retirement…
Op-Ed
Earlier this week, The Globe and Mail revealed internal research by government officials showing a global trend toward older normal pension ages, with most OECD countries’ target policy retirement age to be raised to at least 67 by around 2050. An eventual increase in the normal retirement age, here in Canada, appears inevitable. Despite this trend, Ottawa recently reversed course and…
Op-Ed
The brunt of Canada’s economic woes is falling on a few resource-based provinces. This avalanche of lost employment – Alberta lost 10,000 jobs in January – calls for a close look at our employment-insurance system, which maintains regional inequities by treating some workers much more generously than others. As the first layer of Canada’s social safety net, EI gives recently laid-off…