B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen says Canadians need a new national pension scheme to bolster their retirement incomes, but his province will go ahead with the idea on a regional basis if other provinces don't get on board.
Mr. Hansen's comments yesterday came on the heels of similar remarks in recent weeks by Alberta Finance Minister Iris Evans. The two are trying to build support for a new pension plan in advance of a Dec. 17 meeting of finance ministers in Whitehorse, where pension reform will top the agenda.
Alberta and British Columbia are championing a voluntary pension scheme that would allow workers and employers to make contributions to a retirement savings plan that would, ideally, be administered by the Canada Pension Plan.
"I think there's a lot of merit in looking at the CPP framework that already exists, but looking at a supplemental plan to the existing CPP plan," Mr. Hansen said.
But it remains unclear whether the ministerial public lobbying is succeeding in persuading key holdouts such as Ontario - or the federal government - to support the idea.
A spokesman for Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan would not comment on the issue yesterday. Mr. Duncan has been non-committal about the idea in the past, saying all options should be considered, and noting that a new pension scheme might limit savings options for some workers.
N.S. Finance Minister Graham Steele said last month that he favours a national solution, arguing it wouldn't help in "building the nation" if Canada had a regional pension system in provinces such as British Columbia, Alberta and possibly Saskatchewan.
Mr. Hansen said yesterday he agrees a Canada-wide plan is preferable to ensure national labour mobility. "If we cannot get consensus on that, then I think the fallback position would be a group of provinces that would develop it as a separate initiative," he said.
Mr. Hansen will meet in Toronto today with counterparts from Ontario and Alberta, as well as representatives of other provinces who will participate by telephone, to discuss various pension reform options ahead of the Dec. 17 session.
The idea of another government-run national pension program has met with a chorus of opposition from financial services companies.
