(December 10 – 11:30 ET) –
Current evidence indicates that
the changes put in place two years
ago will be sufficient to sustain
the CPP, says Finance Minister Paul
Martin. “Canadians can rest assured
that the CPP will continue to
provide the retirement pensions
and other CPP benefits that they
depend on.” His comments are part
of a Finance department review of
the Canada Pension Plan.
CPP managers will actively
manage 50% of the assets it has
invested in equities, rather than
just tracking the index. It will
also consider relaxing this
requirement even further later next
year. The Finance Minister has also
made some changes to the term
limits for CPP Investment Board
members.
The review concluded that the
CPP is financially healthy. The
current contribution rate
schedule, increasing to 9.9% by
2003, should be sufficient for CPP
to survive the aging demographics.
The provincial Finance Ministers
agreed to look at improving the
mechanism for splitting CPP pension
credits on divorce and separation.
Manitoba, the federal Finance
Ministry and Human Resources
Development are exploring the
possibility of a pilot project in
that province.
The ministers also agreed to
provide provinces with an option
to pre-pay some or all of their
borrowings from the CPP at market
prices, at no cost to the plan.
This measure is intended to help
provinces who are paying down their
debts in an era of budget surpluses.
A policy for supplying
actuarial information and services
on the CPP will be released for
comment to standardize existing
actuarial practices.
-IE Staff
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