Despite growing concern from institutional investors about the risks associated with climate change and the subsequent impact on companies in their portfolios, companies in Canada’s most carbon-intensive sectors are not demonstrating “climate competency” in the boardroom, according to a new report. The Shareholder Association for Research and Education’s report looked at disclosures from 52 companies […]
Xerox Corp. has completed its plan to separate into two independent, publicly-traded companies, thereby spinning off its human resources arm, which included Buck Consultants, into a new business process services company called Conduent HR Services. The new company will continue to provide employers with human resources consulting and outsourcing solutions that focus on their employees’ […]
“The Ontario Registered Pension Plan was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. . . . Old ORPP was as dead as a door-nail.” With a paraphrased nod to that holiday classic, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Benefits Canada takes a look at the ghost of 2016, Ontario’s would-be provincial pension […]
Pension plans administrators in Alberta’s private sector will have another year to put a governance policy in place. Under Bill 10, published in 2012, the provincial government set out a number of changes that would allow plan administrators to more easily develop pension plans that meet the needs of employers and employees. As part of […]
BASF Canada Inc. is enhancing its compassionate and bereavement policies for about 550 non-unionized employees across Canada. Effective Jan. 1, 2017, the chemicals company will change its bereavement policy to provide up to 10 paid days in the event of the death of an immediate family member and up to five paid days for close […]
Pensioners and members of the Northern Transportation Co. Ltd.’s pension plan reached a settlement with the company on Friday that will see all special payments, which had been suspended since August, paid into the fund. It provides the fund with a further $1.7 million, says Simon Archer, a lawyer at Koskie Minsky LLP, which represented […]
Brookfield Asset Management has launched a wholly-owned subsidiary called Brookfield Annuity Co., the first company in Canada to specialize in providing group annuity solutions for de-risking defined benefit pension plans. Compared to global annuity markets, particularly Britain, Canada has been a bit slower to follow this trend, according to Paul Forestell, president and chief executive […]
The Financial Services Commission of Ontario has said it expects to perform an on-site examination of every pension plan in the province over the next five years. So what do plan sponsors need to know to prepare for the regulator’s knock on the door? First of all, the examinations aren’t random, said Randy Bauslaugh, practice […]
A House of Commons committee is recommending the government look for ways to deal with the solvency of Canada Post’s defined benefit pension plan, including a suggestion to examine the feasibility of adopting a shared-risk model. “Certainly for a large plan like Canada Post, a target-benefit or shared-risk model would provide a good alternative to […]
Home Hardware Stores Ltd. hosted a series of health fairs in November for more than 2,000 employees in Alberta, Nova Scotia and Ontario to raise awareness of the health benefits available to them. While some of these locations have held health fairs in the past, this year marked the first time the organization included reward […]