Social Policy in Ontario

Canada Pension Plan boost would be far from free, Opinion May 29

Dan Kelly, of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), gets it wrong on pensions.

First off, no one has said enhancing the CPP would be free. It is a pension plan — one of the best in the world. Both employees and employers pay into it, although Kelly would much prefer if businesses did not pay their share.

Secondly, Kelly claims that the CFIB has a petition with 7,000 signatures opposing an improved CPP. The CFIB website says the organization has 109,000 members. Obviously, an overwhelming majority of them did not sign this petition.

In fact, our scientific poll of small businesses showed majority support among small business owners for an expanded CPP. Perhaps Kelly should pay closer attention to his members. Our polling also demonstrates consistent and overwhelming support among Canadians for CPP expansion, in all provinces.

Ken Georgetti, President, Canadian Labour Congress, Ottawa

< http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2013/06/03/boosting_cpp_is_highly_popular.html >