Look overseas for CPP alternative ideas: Fraser Institute
Posted December 5, 2013 7:22 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Are you concerned there won’t be any cash left in the Canada Pension Plan by the time you retire?
A right wing think tank says Canada might be able to borrow a few ideas from the system that’s used in Australia.
“Australia doesn’t have a Canadian Pension Plan equivalent,” explains Sean Speer with the Fraser Institute.
“What it does instead is it requires mandatory employer contributions to what are essentially individual retirement income savings accounts. So, each individual who has a job has a menu of options to choose from in terms of how these accounts will function and employers are required to make a contribution. The individual has the option of making voluntary additional contributions on their own.”
Speer says there are also measures in place for seniors, the unemployed, and people on the lower end of the wage scale.
“They also have the equivalent of the guaranteed income supplement in addition to these accounts, so those programs are available to low income seniors and or people who have limited experience in the work force,” he says.
Speer says it would be premature to say Australia has a better system than Canada, but it wouldn’t hurt for the federal government to examine what the Australians are doing well.
“It’s imperfect and no doubt there would be people who would find issues with the system, but I think there’s a stampede now and some momentum building toward increasing the CPP,” he says. “One of the things we hope people do is step back and look at what other jurisdictions are doing, like Australia, to see if there are other options available.”
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