Wynne says young workers will be biggest beneficiaries of Ontario pension plan

The premier talked up the program in a Toronto coffee shop Tuesday, as her government released more details and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce warned of “tight timelines” for employers to get ready.

Thestar.com
Jan. 26, 2016
By Rob Ferguson

Premier Kathleen Wynne dusted off her pension sales pitch Tuesday, saying people entering the workforce will be the biggest beneficiaries in an era with fewer and fewer company retirement plans.

“The working world has changed,” the premier said at an east-end coffee shop as her government released more details - these included survivor benefits and a clearer definition of which employees qualify - on the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan as first reported by the Star.

While slightly more than half of workers aged 45 to 54 now have workplace pensions, the percentage drops to 25 per cent for those aged 25 to 34, Wynne told reporters.

“It’s quite clear there’s a generational divide.”

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce said the new definition of employees to be included in the ORPP has been expanded to include federally regulated companies, a long list that includes banks, broadcasters, telecommunications firms and federal Crown corporations.

That definition applies to any person working who works full-time or part-time in Ontario and does not have a comparable company pension plan.

“This definition captures a greater number of businesses than many anticipated, including federally regulated businesses,” the chamber said in a statement that warned of “tight timelines” for employers to get ready for the plan taking effect next Jan. 1.

However, many of the federally regulated companies already have their own pension plans for employees, so it’s unclear how many more workers will be affected.

The chamber sounded the alarm about the government decision to allow the plan to increase contribution rates by up to 0.2 per cent in the event it becomes underfunded - that’s in addition to the 1.9 per cent contribution rate already set, a cap the business group had sought.

“We will continue to lobby the government on this point,” the statement added.

Some business groups have warned the contributions employers and employees must make to the plan will hurt profits and pocketbooks, becoming a drag on the economy, wages and jobs.

“With opposition growing, the province continues to push Ontarians to a place where they just don’t want to go,” said Plamen Petkov of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

The CFIB noted the plan will require Ontarians who are eligible - about two-thirds of workers do not have company pension plans - to pay up to $1,643 a year in premiums to be matched by their employers.

That will “further stress household finances,” said Progressive Conservative MPP Julia Munro (York-Simcoe).

Among the new information revealed Tuesday is that benefits paid out in retirement would be indexed to inflation and there will be survivor benefits equal to 60 per cent to a spouse, with a lump sum going to the estate if the ORPP member dies before retirement.

“We’re sharing more details that employers have been asking for,” said associate finance minister Mitzie Hunter.

Given objections from some provinces to enhancing the Canada Pension Plan, an option she favoured, Wynne said she hopes that Ontario moving ahead with its own plan will set an example.

“I think it will move the discussion nationally,” she added. “We know the CPP enhancement is going to take a long time.”

The Ontario Federation of Labour called the ORPP “the first new social program to be launched in recent memory” and said other provinces and urged territories to follow suit given that the average CPP stipend is just $6,800 annually.

The OFL and New Democrats called for the Ontario plan to be extended to seasonal and contract workers.