CFIB is Wrong about Public Sector Pensions
February 28, 2012
By Peter Stoffer, MP (Sackville-Eastern Shore)
Shame on Catherine Swift, the President of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) for her recent action alert entitled “Leadership on Pensions Needed Now!”
Ms. Swift paints the picture that Canada faces a very real pension crisis related to lack of fairness and sustainability. She blames an “overly generous public sector pensions” as well as demographics.
But who exactly in the public sector is Ms. Swift attacking?’ I would like to remind the CFIB that thousands of these public sector pensioners’ and employees are people who serve in the Canadian Forces, the RCMP, our correctional facilities and at border crossings. Many of these men and women are in dangerous jobs and serve and protect our country on a daily basis. They are also food inspectors, customs officials, transport inspectors, and thousands of other professionals who help protect our borders, natural resources, transportation systems and the health and safety of our communities.
As for the supposed gold plated nature of public pensions: the average public sector pension is around $18,000, according to Environics Research. Given that the Low Income cut-off (the measure used by many domestic groups to designate poverty) for a single person in Canada is $17,219, I think that it’s safe to say that $18,000 is hardly gold-plated.
The CFIB action alert then goes on to claim that CPP has an “estimated $200+ billion unfunded liability in public sector pensions.” This is simply not true. But don’t take my word for it. Take the word of Greg Hurst, from Benefits Canada:
The “truth is that the federal government took steps more than 10 years ago to reign in the growing value of the Superannuation Account and to improve management of its unfunded pension obligations. Both employer and employee contributions for pensions in respect of service after March 31, 2000, are invested by the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, and the latest reports of the Chief Actuary show that those pension obligations are fully funded with modest surpluses. Thus, there is no crisis of unfunded pension obligations for the federal public service.”
Again, I am very disappointed in the CFIB’s position as it only serves to pit private sector employees against those in the public sector and polarize the pension debate.
Enhancing retirement security for all Canadians is a priority for New Democrats. As such, we have designed a number of policy proposals to protect those Canadians fortunate enough to already have a workplace pension, and to extend pensions to those who do not.
-30-
For more information, please contact Peter Stoffer at (902) 861-2311.