Posts Tagged ‘pensions’
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Ontario report calls for boost to pensions
Friday, October 29th, 2010
Oct. 29, 2010
The province issued a consultation paper Friday, asking for public input on proposals to improve pensions for Ontarians as part of a national initiative… current rules only allow pension plans to be offered by an employer to an employee. This limits options for people who are self-employed or who work for small companies that cannot afford to offer a pension plan. The report asks for input on proposals to allow financial institutions to offer pension plans with participation from multiple employers, allowing more companies to offer retirement benefits to workers and reducing administration costs by creating large pools of funds.
Tags: pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Pension reform should aid women
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
Oct 18 2010
Retired Canadian women aren’t getting their fair share of federal pension benefits compared to men, Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said Monday… that’s just another reason the entire system of retirement benefits needs to be overhauled with an eye to phased-in “modest” benefits increases… As of December 2009, the average annual CPP retirement benefit for women was $4,906.56, compared with that of men of $7,128.24 or about 69 per cent.
Tags: pensions, women
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Innovative Pension Reforms Provide Lessons for Canada
Monday, October 11th, 2010
September 28, 2010
Until now Canada’s retirement income system has done well in alleviating elders’ poverty and helping workers maintain their standard of living in retirement. But according to Patrik Marier, the latter achievement is threatened by problems in the coverage and governance of occupational pensions, and by the voluntary nature and high cost of savings alternatives… Patrik Marier looks at pension reforms in Norway, Sweden, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Saskatchewan to determine if there are lessons for Canada, and finds that all five systems have features that would complement Canada’s public pensions.
Tags: pensions, standard of living
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The era of quiet, forbearing seniors is over
Monday, October 11th, 2010
Oct 11 2010
… there are 6.9 million of us; 22 per cent of the voting population (probably more because we have a high propensity to vote). Governments are aware of this. In recent years, they have made sporadic efforts to plug the holes in Canada’s elder care system. But most of their initiatives have been badly designed or grossly inadequate… Seniors with dementia and severe disabilities are being warehoused in unregulated private retirement homes. They can’t get into government-supervised nursing homes because there is a backlog of 24,000 applications. Caregivers are burning out. Volunteers are pulling back.
Tags: participation, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Welcome plan for home care
Thursday, October 7th, 2010
Oct 07 2010
We should be grateful when people choose to care for ailing relatives. Not only does that choice allow the sick person to remain in more comfortable surroundings, it also alleviates the burden on hospitals, nursing homes and an inadequate home-care system… Ignatieff’s two-pronged policy, announced Tuesday, would cost $1 billion. The Conservatives immediately pounced on this price tag and called it “reckless” spending. But the Liberals have costed it out: their plan would be funded by cancelling the Conservative government’s planned corporate tax cuts.
Tags: disabilities, Health, ideology, pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
How six months can change a party
Sunday, September 12th, 2010
Sep 12 2010
… two presentations were based on a key philosophical point — the need to move from “negative” liberty, or the absence of constraints, to “positive” liberty where opportunities are accessible to all… The relevance of the Kingston conference is this: In 1960, like today, the conventional wisdom is that governments defeat themselves. Opposition is enough. But the reformers argued instead that a positive plan had to complement the negative parliamentary attack. Liberals had to think as well as react. And such thinking had to be informed by a coherent philosophy and a clear narrative.
Tags: Health, ideology, pensions
Posted in Social Security History | No Comments »
Elderly caregivers desperately need help
Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
Sep 08 2010
The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) issued a report in late August called Supporting Informal Caregivers: The Heart of Home Care. It showed that one in six people caring for ailing seniors at home is in distress. The number shoots up to one in three if the senior has cognitive problems such as Alzheimer’s disease, one in two if the senior is aggressive or abusive. These are the first authoritative figures on the problem. Up to now, advocates have relied on estimates or anecdotal evidence… At a time when Ontario is encouraging seniors to stay in their homes for as a long as possible, it is important to know who is providing the support they need.
Tags: disabilities, Health, pensions, poverty, standard of living, women
Posted in Child & Family Debates | 1 Comment »
Retirement Security for Everyone Campaign
Friday, September 3rd, 2010
Sep 2nd, 2010
The Canadian Labour Congress (“the umbrella organization for dozens of affiliated Canadian and international unions, as well as provincial federations of labour and regional labour councils”) has excellent, accessible information in support of labour’s Retirement Security for Everyone campaign… Under international human rights law to which Canada is signatory, everyone has the right to “social security” and an “adequate standard of living.
Tags: featured, pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Disability benefits need insurance backup
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
Aug 30 2010
About 400 disabled employees of Nortel Networks Corp. are scheduled to have their income replacement and medical benefits cut off by year’s end. Nortel is being broken up under creditor protection. Their only hope of getting further money ahead of other creditors is a bill proposed by Liberal Senator Art Eggleton, a former Toronto mayor. But time is running short. It’s a disgrace that federal and provincial governments have yet to do anything to prevent this sort of situation.
Tags: disabilities, Health, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Support for seniors
Sunday, August 1st, 2010
Jul. 31, 2010
While the lion’s share of support for low-income seniors comes from federal programs, most provinces have top-up programs to provide extra support to those receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). The provincial benefits kick in automatically through the tax system, except in Alberta and New Brunswick, where you must apply. Manitoba is unique in offering supplements to those as young as 55. The benefits are usually automatic to those receiving the Old Age Security (OAS)… No central source pulls this information together, so finding the various provincial programs was a bit of a hunt.
Tags: pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
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