Posted: Sunday, 30 May 2010

Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, has renewed his call for improvements to the Canada Pension Plan following a resolution passed at a convention of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).

The FCM resolution passed on Saturday, May 29, calls for an expansion of the CPP, a federal system of pension insurance, and for the federal government to hold a national summit on pension issues. This position is virtually identical to that of the labour movement.

"Municipal politicians are closer to their constituents than any other level of government," Georgetti says, "They can see that we have a pension crisis in Canada. Other political leaders should follow suit and commit to improving the CPP."

Most Canadians are not saving enough to live comfortably in retirement. One-third of Canadian workers aged 24-64 have no personal retirement savings at all, and 61.5% of workers (11 million people) have no workplace pension. "The situation is serious, but there are solutions at hand," Georgetti says. "An enhanced CPP must form the cornerstone of pension reform and retirement security."

Federal, provincial and territorial finance ministers have been discussing pension reform for the past year and will meet in Prince Edward Island in June to decide what to do next. "We are delighted with the position that the FCM has taken on the CPP and there is now no excuse for Canada's finance ministers to drag their feet on pension reform."