Interviewed by guest host Andrew Nichols on the December 6, 2009 program

"Do you worry about your pension?"

• Jonathan Chevreau
  business journalist with the National Post newspaper and author most recently of Findependence Day - One Couple's Turbulent Journey to Financial Independence.
  
  
• Diane Urquhart
  Economist and independent financial advisor.
  
  
• Keith Ambachtsheer
  Adjunct professor of finance and director of the Rotman International Centre for Pension Management at the University of Toronto.
  

Guest host Andrew Nichols' introduction to the December 6, 2009 program:

"Do you worry about your pension?"

Today we want to talk about pensions and pension reform. For months now, many Canadians have been looking at their prospective pensions with alarm. At the beginning of the recession last year when the stock market dived, the hopes of many went with it. Those who put their savings in stock-based RRSPs or other equities lost large chunks of their security.

In the intervening months, as many businesses struggled to stay alive, other people came to realize that their futures were at play too. Auto workers, Nortel employees and many others who believed their retirement future was secure watched helplessly as what they thought were iron clad pension plans, suddenly seemed shakey. Some took to the streets and protested government regulations that allow investment speculators to take priority over employee pensions in bankruptcy procedings.

At the end of October, the government announced proposals to change the regulations. They were aimed at tighening rules for companies so that they cannot slide their pension plans onto the back-burner when business gets rough. We'd like to know if you think those changes will be enough? A recent poll of sponsors of corporate pension plans suggested that most think the plans will not meet their future obligations.

We also want to know what you expect in the way of support and security in your retirement? We'd like to hear about your own plans. Do you think the support provided by the Canada Pension Plan and the Old Age Security program will be enough ...or are you taking steps to ensure that you will have more than what the government has in store? If you're young and retirement is still a long way off ...are you worried there'll be nothing left... that the cupboard will be bare? One thing is certain, there will be fewer workers and taxpayers supporting more pensioners.

Perhaps you have a company plan ...has the recession changed the way you now look at that? If you work for the public sector chances are you don't have to worry about much at all. Is that fair to other Canadians who pay the taxes?

Canada has a patchwork of different plans, regulations and practices with regards to pensions ...is that something that ought to be streamlined?

There is a bewildering array of acronyms: CPP, OAS, GIS, RRSP - also Riffs - TFSA's. Does this whole topic leave you scratching your head? What's the solution?

I'm Andrew Nichols, sitting in for Rex Murphy ...on CBC Radio One ...and on Sirius satellite radio channel 137 ...this is Cross Country Checkup.

Links

• CBC.ca
  • Flaherty unveils public pension reforms
  • Benefits of new pension rules likely years away
  • Pension attention cheers Nortel retirees
  • Quebec backs Nortel employee pensions
• National Post
  • Flaherty fiddles with pensions, by Terence Corcoran
  • New government pension plan not necessary
  • Reforms tweak DB pensions but may push more employers to DC plans; do little to help those with no plans at all
  • ACPM welcomes reforms to employer pensions but says Canadians need to save more
  • Ottawa's pension reform has five main objectives
  • Pension reform a political hot potato
  • NDP proposes pension system fixes
  • Canada's retirement income ranks 4th
• Globe and Mail
  • Ottawa moves up pension reform
  • Jim Flaherty unveils pension reform
  • Editorial: By inches, not strides
  • Report on Busines Special: Retirement Lost
• Toronto Star
  • 162,000 missing voices in debate on pensions, by Carol Goar
• C.D. Howe Institute: The Pension Papers
  
• Pension Reform: How Canada Can Lead the World, by Keith Ambachtsheer
  
• A Pension in Every Pot: Better Pensions for More Canadians, by James Pierlot
  
• National Union of Public and General Employees: Pensions
• A Brief History of Pensions in Canada
  
• Dept. of Finance: Government Modernizes Federal Pension Framework