Tories want Ontario public sector pensions changed to defined contribution
Posted Nov 19, 2012 01:26:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO – Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives say taxpayers can no longer afford what they call “gold-plated pension plans” for public sector workers.
Opposition Leader Tim Hudak says Ontario faces a $100-billion funding liability for about 90 public sector pension plans that will only get worse if the rules aren’t changed.
Hudak says it’s time new nurses, teachers and civil servants were given defined contribution pension plans instead of the more lucrative _ and costly _ defined benefit pensions those workers currently have.
He says there’s a dramatic unfairness in the system when some taxpayers with no workplace pension have to pay more to fund generous pensions for public sector workers.
Hudak also wants pooled pension plans for private sector workers who don’t have a pension, which would not require employers to make any contributions.
The New Democrats called the Conservative idea “reckless and unworkable” and said it would push more retirees into poverty and cost the government millions of dollars in court battles.
The Liberal government says it would prefer a “gradual, moderate” increase in the Canada Pension Plan over a pooled plan.
