Claude Marchessault – Benefits Canada.com

Expert panel: A look at retiree benefits and the current health-care system

mdunne — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 13:00:31 +0000

Many employees may be dreaming of a carefree retirement following many years in the trenches — but they’ll likely have to keep dreaming if they don’t have first-rate, post-retirement health and dental insurance coverage. Many employers provide supplemental health insurance (drug, dental, extended health and out-of-country medical) as part of comprehensive packages of employee benefits, […]

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Reports highlight social implications of workplace pensions

mschmit — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 04:30:32 +0000

A report published by the Canadian Public Pension Leadership Council in February 2019 offers compelling evidence about the broad benefits of workplace pension plans. The report, by Robert Brown, builds on a 2017 CPPLC report by Bob Baldwin that asked Canadians to quantify the maximum amount they’d pay, as a percentage of annual income, to maintain their […]

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Governance lessons from B.C.’s public sector pension plans

mschmit — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 04:00:30 +0000

While retirement income security is top of mind for many Canadians, British Columbia’s public sector pension plans are noteworthy models that can be emulated by sponsors seeking plan design solutions, particularly when it comes to governance. Some other Canadian jurisdictions have introduced, or are in the process of developing, pension governance models similar to British Columbia, but […]

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Time to extend public sector pension expertise to other plans

mschmit — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 04:30:35 +0000

For more than 30 years, Canada’s public sector pension organizations have distinguished themselves by delivering secure, sustainable defined benefit pensions and, in the process, have earned a reputation as global leaders. That wasn’t always the case, so will it continue to be the case in 30 years? Six years ago, The Economist published a report that described how […]

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Pension plans need new metrics to adapt to millennials’ ascent, changing work reality

mschmit — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 12:02:30 +0000

Canada’s public sector pension organizations are global leaders. Over the past 30 years, they’ve distinguished themselves in the delivery of secure and sustainable defined benefit pensions but they’re facing new challenges. At issue is whether they can meet those challenges and repeat past successes for the next generation of Canadians. A new report commissioned by […]

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Pension industry challenged to deliver plans with DB features prized by Canadians

mschmit — Tue, 11 Jul 2017 13:00:56 +0000

There’s little doubt that working Canadians want a secure source of retirement income. The challenge for the pension industry is how to deliver the desired retirement income in a sustainable manner. In April 2017, the Canadian Public Pension Leadership Council published the results of a survey that provided key takeaways that will be useful to governments, policy-makers […]

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Time for B.C., Alberta pension administrators to prepare for new triennial assessments

mschmit — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 05:05:07 +0000

The November 2008 report from British Columbia and Alberta’s joint expert panel on pension standards encouraged the two provincial governments to take a leadership position in pension reform and forge harmonized pension standards legislation that would provide a solid foundation for private sector pension plans and facilitate interprovincial labour mobility. While the panel’s vision of […]

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Court decisions reinforce need for benefits communications policy

mschmit — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 05:07:02 +0000

In a previous post, I extolled the virtues of a benefits communications policy for those who communicate pensions and benefits to employees. Two recent court decisions demonstrate just how important a benefits communications policy can be for employers. In Feldstein v. 364 Northern Development Corp., the British Columbia Supreme Court awarded more than $93,000 in […]

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How to avoid legal liability for benefits communications

mschmit — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 05:30:42 +0000

If your job description includes responsibility for communicating pensions and benefits to fellow employees, then you’ll already know that with each new communication comes potential increased legal liability for your organization. Canadian courts and arbitrators have shown an increasing propensity to award damages to employees in cases of employer communications found to be untrue, inaccurate, […]

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Is your pension plan compliant with B.C.’s new PBSA?

mschmit — Fri, 06 Nov 2015 04:30:48 +0000

It doesn’t take much to make a B.C. registered pension plan (or a plan registered in another provincial jurisdiction with B.C. members) quickly become non-compliant with B.C.’s new Pension Benefits Standard Act (PBSA). The new and improved PBSA—the brainchild of the authors of the Joint Expert Panel on Pension Standards (JEPPS) 2008 report entitled Getting […]

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