Employees at Glencore Canada’s Brunswick Smelter operation are considering striking over what their union is calling “never-ending” concession demands from the company on pensions and benefits packages. While members of the United Steelworkers Local 7085 are expected to vote on a strike on March 28 and 29, negotiations between the employer and the union, which represents […]
In its 2019 budget on Tuesday, the federal government announced a number of proposals regarding pension protections, off the back of recent high-profile corporate bankruptcies that have thrown the sustainability of some Canadians’ defined benefit plans into doubt during the past few years. Indeed, the federal government received 4,400 submissions in response to its request for comment on the […]
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions is introducing regulations amending the assessment of pension plans on April 1, 2019. The amendments aim to streamline the process and eliminate assessments for certain terminated pension plans, noted a release from the OSFI. In July 2018, it consulted with plan administrators about the proposed amendments, with no concerns or objections […]
The Canadian Labour Congress’ wish list for the upcoming 2019 federal budget includes universal national pharmacare and pensions and retirement security. For pharmacare, the group is calling on the federal government to implement a national plan. “Budget 2019 must outline the federal government’s plan and budget future expenditures to implement a universal, single-payer pharmacare program […]
The Colleges of Applied Art and Technology pension plan boosted its funding reserve to $2.6 billion, raising its funded status to 120 per cent on a going-concern basis, according to its most recent actuarial valuation. Updated as of Jan. 1, 2019, the valuation showed an improvement over last year’s status of 118 per cent, upping […]
Wabush Mines pensioners in Newfoundland and Quebec will see some reversal of the pension cuts that went into effect when the operations’ parent company filed for creditor protection in 2015. When Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. shuttered Canadian operations, it left the defined benefit pension plan underfunded, subjecting pensioners to a benefits cut of more than 20 per […]
In Ontario’s new defined benefit plan funding rules, the provisions for adverse deviation should be based on the plan’s asset mix, and a riskier asset mix should naturally require a higher PfAD, according to the Association of Canadian Pension Management’s submission to the provincial Ministry of Finance. “Using that logic and an understanding that fixed-income […]
Group annuity sales in Canada topped out at a record high of $4.6 billion in 2018, beating 2017’s sales of $3.7 billion, according to the latest data from Sun Life Financial. This represents an acceleration in the market, which had been on the rise, with 2014’s sales hitting $2.5 billion. Strong sales in the last quarter […]
The Actuarial Standards Board is consulting on changes to key components of how the commuted value for a pension plan is calculated. The commuted-value standard is used to determine how much to pay a terminating plan member who chooses to take their pension payment as a lump sum. It’s also a key part of calculating […]
A recent decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal could significantly change the landscape for employers and pensioners involved in bankruptcy proceedings that engage pension plan deficits. The decision, Guarantee Company of North America v. Royal Bank of Canada, released in January, is a construction lien case that makes no mention of pensions. But the […]