Posted: Friday, 26 November 2010

Ken Georgetti has dismissed criticisms by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) regarding the CLC’s proposals to gradually double benefits paid by the Canada Pension Plan.

“The CFIB claims that we are underestimating the cost to workers and employers of their making increased contributions to the CPP and that is simply not true,” says the CLC president. “Our numbers are rock solid and they have been peer reviewed by the former chief actuary for the Canadian Pension Plan.”

The CFIB has long been an opponent of improved public pensions for Canadian workers and the organization issued a report on November 25 warning of dire consequences to individuals and the economy if, as expected, Canada’s finance ministers follow through on a plan to improve CPP benefits.

“Why doesn’t the CFIB promote decent pensions for everyone instead of promoting a race to the bottom,” Georgetti asks?

He says that on the very day the CFIB released its alarmist report regarding an enhanced CPP, Professor Jon Kesselman, an expert on pensions and on taxation, published an opinion editorial in a national newspaper saying that the predictions being made by business will not come to pass.

“We propose a gradual doubling of future CPP benefits,” Georgetti says. “A modest increase in CPP contributions will produce thousands of dollars a year in extra benefits for workers when they retire. This represents first-rate retirement saving at a low cost. And, as Professor Kesselman says, improving the CPP for workers will
not reduce employment and force down wages as business likes to claim.”

Canada’s finance ministers will meet in Alberta in December to talk about pensions. A majority of them believe that improving the CPP is the best means of ensuring retirement security for all Canadians.