Op-Eds
Published in the Globe and Mail on December 17, 2010
By William Robson
Canada’s finance ministers will gather in Kananaskis, Alta., on Monday with Canadians’ retirement prospects high on their agenda. Post-crisis anxiety has fed expectations that the ministers will announce something big – mandatory accounts, perhaps, or the supersized Canada Pension Plan being pushed by some provinces and unions. Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was right to dampen expectations on that front on Thursday. Different Canadians – modest or middle-income, large-business employees or self-employed, young or old – have different needs. Upgrading our retirement prospects requires adjusting with screwdrivers, not sledgehammers.
…
Published in the Globe and Mail on April 19, 2010
By William Robson
MPs’ pensions are again in the news. No wonder: A recent report on their plans over the year to March 31, 2009 – a period when interest rates fell to unprecedented lows, the stock market lost a third of its value, and most Canadians’ retirement dreams took a body blow – showed an 8 per cent increase in their accounts. The truth, however, is weirder, and worse. These accounts are a fiction. Extraordinarily rich and completely unfunded, MPs’ plans are instructive examples of the worst in Canadian pension arrangements.
The spectacular performance suggested in the annual report tabled in Parliament would have been welcome if it had been real.…
Go to: /pdf/Robson, GM, Jan 23, 2009.pdf
See also:
James Pierlot: A Pension in Every Pot: Better Pensions for More Canadians - Commentary_275.pdf Bill Robson: A Better Riff on Retirement - ebrief_58.pdf