The Lion’s Share: Pension deficits and shareholder payments among Canada’s largest companies

Posted on November 21, 2017 in Policy Context

PolicyAlternatives.ca – lionsshare
November 21, 2017.   David MacdonaldCole EisenChris Roberts

Download : https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2017/11/CCPA%20The%20Lions%20Share%20.pdf

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This study examines the status of the defined benefit (DB) pension plans of Canada’s largest publicly-traded companies. Thirty-nine companies on the S&P/TSX 60 maintain DB pension plans, amounting to one-third of all private sector pension plan assets in Canada. However, only nine plans were fully funded in 2016. Together, the 39 companies oversaw a $10.8 billion deficit in their pension plans in 2016, while increasing shareholder payouts from $31.9 billion in 2011 to $46.9 billion last year.

This paper, co-published by the CCPA and the Canadian Labour Congress, details the extent to which DB pension plans among S&P/TSX 60 companies are underfunded, provides the cost to shareholders that eliminating the pension deficits would pose, and offers a series of recommendations for ensuring the security of retirees’ benefits.

OFFICES:
ISBN:
978-1-77125-372-7
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2017/11/CCPA%20The%20Lions%20Share%20.pdf

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