Posted: Tuesday, 15 June 2010

by Ken Georgetti, as published in The Telegram (St. John's) on June 15, 2010

Predictably, some business leaders are misrepresenting labour's proposal to expand Canada Pension Plan benefits ("Business owners against stronger CPP") by ludicrously claiming it will double premiums. Our plan to expand CPP benefits so that future seniors won't live in poverty is cost- effective.

Expansion of benefits would be phased in and financed by a modest increase in the premiums paid by workers and employers. For someone earning $30,000 a year, the increase would amount to just six cents per working hour annually. That would provide for an individual's CPP benefits in retirement to be doubled.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) claims to have survey results indicating its members are opposed to this. Actually, that same CFIB survey also showed that 80 per cent of their members don't even bother offering workplace pension plans to employees. That is one of the reasons we have a retirement security crisis today.
Our own scientific poll conducted by Vector Research tells a different story - 68 per cent of small business owners thought people with good pensions were good for business, and over half supported an expanded CPP.

The mayors of Canada's cities and communities understand that, and for that reason they supported a resolution at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' annual convention to expand the Canada Pension Plan. They know first-hand how tough it is for their communities and their municipal budgets when seniors are living in poverty.