Justin Trudeau delivers help for Kathleen Wynne’s Ontario pension plan

The federal government will direct the Canada Revenue Agency and the finance and national revenue departments to work with Ontario officials on administering Ontario Retirement Pension Plan.

Thestar.com
Oct. 27, 2015
By Robert Benzie

Justin Trudeau has begun repaying Premier Kathleen Wynne for helping him become prime minister.

Upon being sworn in to succeed Prime Minister Stephen Harper next Wednesday, Trudeau will reverse his predecessor’s attempt to derail the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan.

That announcement came after a 30-minute meeting Tuesday at Queen’s Park between the two leaders.

“We made progress on our mutual commitment to build greater retirement security for Ontarians and Canadians,” said Zita Astravas, Wynne’s director of media relations.

“Once it takes office, the incoming federal government will direct the Canada Revenue Agency and the departments of finance and national revenue to work with Ontario officials on the registration and administration of the ... ORPP,” said Astravas.

“This would be the same assistance with pension administration that the federal government has extended in the past to Quebec and Saskatchewan. The ORPP is being designed to integrate with any future CPP enhancement,” she said, referring to the Canada Pension Plan.

Finance Minister Joe Oliver said in July that Ottawa would not provide administrative support for Wynne’s retirement scheme because the Conservatives felt it would “take money from workers and their families, kill jobs and damage the economy.”

“Administration of the ORPP will be the sole responsibility of the Ontario government, including the collection of contributions and any required information,” Oliver, who lost his Eglinton-Lawrence seat on Oct. 19, said at the time.

During the campaign, Harper boasted that he was “delighted” to hinder the Ontario plan, which launches in 2017.

“Kathleen Wynne is mad that I won’t help her do that ... You’re bloody right. The Conservative government is not going to help bring in that kind of tax hike.”

Wynne created the Ontario plan after Harper refused to bolster CPP, which pays out a maximum benefit of little more than $12,000 annually.

Trudeau received a hero’s welcome at Queen’s Park as he arrived to thank Wynne for her help in winning power.

“Just a great conversation on a wide range of issues. Look forward to working together,” he told reporters as he rushed away from the meeting in the premier’s second-floor office.

In a joint statement the leaders confirmed they said “the incoming federal government and the government of Ontario will be active partners in the national discussion on pension enhancement, including the CPP and ORPP.”

“We discussed the importance of investing in infrastructure. Ontario is making the largest investment in public infrastructure in the history of the province, and the new federal government’s commitment to infrastructure investment means we will be able to work together to do more, faster,” the Liberal duo stated.

“We reaffirmed our commitment to ongoing collaboration and co-operation on climate change, including plans for the upcoming COP21 meeting in Paris,” the pair said of the United Nations climate change summit that Trudeau and the premiers will attend in December.

“We discussed our commitment to work with First Nations, Métis and Inuit partners, and the incoming federal government’s pledge to call a national inquiry on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.”

Trudeau’s courtesy call was arranged because he was in Toronto for the funeral of Canadian diplomat Ken Taylor, which Wynne also attended.

While it was a brief stop, he briefly disrupted the work day of most Liberals at Queen’s Park.

Scores of them - including Wynne, cabinet ministers, MPPs, and aides - gathered on the front steps of the Ontario Legislature to applaud him. Even some demonstrators rallying for awareness of eating disorders cheered the incoming prime minister.

Trudeau already enjoys some of the trappings of being leader of a G7 nation.

He flew to Toronto aboard a government Challenger jet and arrived at Queen’s Park in a three-car motorcade, though he was riding in an unremarkable black Toyota Sienna minivan.

Wynne played a key role in the Liberals’ Oct. 19 majority election win. The Grits took 80 of Ontario’s 121 seats, compared to 33 for Harper’s Conservatives and eight for the New Democrats led by Thomas Mulcair.

She aggressively campaigned against Harper, who refused to meet face-to-face with her for 396 days between 2014 and 2015.