Ottawa’s Pension Abyss: The Rapid Hidden Growth of Federal-Employee Retirement Liabilities

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Page Title:Ottawa’s Pension Abyss: The Rapid Hidden Growth of Federal-Employee Retirement Liabilities – C.D. Howe Institute
Article Title:Ottawa’s Pension Abyss: The Rapid Hidden Growth of Federal-Employee Retirement Liabilities
URL:https://cdhowe.org/publication/ottawas-pension-abyss-rapid-hidden-growth-federal-employee-retirement-liabilities/
Published Date:December 18, 2012
Accessed Date:February 16, 2025

Despite recent high-profile changes to the pension plans of federal public servants, uniformed personnel and MPs, a critical flaw remains: the contributions to these plans, even after the changes, come nowhere close to covering the rocketing cost of their promises.  In “Ottawa’s Pension Abyss: The Rapid Hidden Growth of Federal-Employee Retirement Liabilities,” author William B.P. Robson finds  the accumulated unfunded liability of these plans, using fair value accounting,  stood at $267 billion at the end of March 2012, almost $118 billion worse than shown in the Public Accounts.

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