LAYTON SAYS PENSIONS PROPOSAL FALLS SHORT

OTTAWA – The federal and Ontario government’s move to allow Canadians to increase their contributions to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), which New Democrats have been calling for, is a timid step forward but it’s not enough, says New Democrat Leader Jack Layton.

“Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has finally awakened to the pensions crisis in this country. And he now accepts what the NDP and others have been saying for years - the plan that Canadians own, the CPP, is the best retirement savings vehicle by far. Too bad he hasn’t followed that fact to its logical conclusion – removing the limit on how much Canadians can contribute. We’ve called for phasing in a doubling of CPP benefits, for starters,” said Mr. Layton.

“The Harper government could eliminate seniors’ poverty with a small addition to the federal GIS, as we have argued,” said New Democrat Pensions Critic Wayne Marston (Hamilton East-Stoney Creek). “There’s nothing in this new proposal to protect the pensions of workers in failing or bankrupt companies. And Mr. Flaherty’s proposal limits the increase in the CPP so that he can protect Bay Street’s right to continue to fleece Canadians of their savings through unconscionable management fees on their RRSPs.”

Mr. Flaherty and his provincial and territorial counterparts are meeting in PEI on Sunday and Monday to discuss the pensions crisis and map out a response to it.

The majority of Canadians do not have a workplace pension, and one in three will retire with no savings at all. As a result, more than a quarter of a million seniors are living in poverty, and up to two million more struggle on poverty’s fringes.

Mr. Flaherty’s proposal is a partial response to the four-part plan to provide retirement security for Canadians included in a NDP motion of June 16, 2009, which was adopted unanimously by the House of Commons. That motion called for:
• Increasing the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) to end seniors’s poverty.
• Strengthening the Canadian Pension Plan/Quebec Pension Plan, in consultation with the provinces, with a goal of doubling benefits.
• Developing a national pension insurance program, funded by employer pension plans, that will guarantee pensioners up to $2,500/month in the event of bankruptcy and plan failure.
• Creating a national facility to adopt workplace pension plans of companies in bankruptcy or in difficulty and keep them operating on a going-concern basis.