Ontario’s government has established an expert commission to seek input on ways to ensure that Ontarians can rely on their pensions, and keep the province’s pension system sustainable.

Finance Minister, Greg Sorbara, announced the new panel. “Ontarians are entitled to pension legislation that is fair and up to date,” Sorbara said. “This review will ensure that plan members and pensioners know that their contributions are protected by a modern set of rules.”

Through consultation with individuals and groups across the province, the panel will review Ontario’s pension system to determine how best to ensure that plan members and pensioners have pension plans they can count on.

The review will focus on: the importance of maintaining and encouraging the system of defined benefit pension plans in Ontario; the importance of maintaining the affordability of defined benefit pension plans for both members and sponsors; the importance of pension plans in supporting a competitive economy; the need to safeguard the security of pension benefits; the need to balance the rights and obligations of employers, plan members and pensioners; and, the impact of demographics and the changing nature of the workforce on the provision of employment pensions.

The commission chair is academic and labour law expert Harry Arthurs. The panel will hold consultations throughout the province, and is expected to report back in the summer of 2008.

The other members of the panel will be: Bob Baldwin, a consultant and former research director at the Canadian Labour Congress, who specializes in pensions, aging society and labour market issues; Kathryn Bush, a lawyer in the Pension and Employee Benefits Group of Blake, Cassels and Graydon, and a former vice chair of the Financial Services Tribunal and the Pension Commission of Ontario; Murray Gold, a lawyer with Koskie Minsky who practices in pension and employee benefits and related insolvency law; and, Ian Markham, Director of Pension Innovation at Watson Wyatt Worldwide, an actuarial consulting firm.

“I am pleased to take on the task that Minister Sorbara has given me,” Arthurs said. “I look forward to meeting with pension stakeholders and interested Ontarians, hearing their views, and presenting the government with my best advice on positioning our pension system for the 21st century.”

“We’re very happy to see the creation of this expert commission,” said Mark Rowbotham, chair of the Pensions and Benefits Section of the Ontario Bar Association. “Like many in the pension community, we welcome the opportunity to provide our views and input, and we look forward to making our presentation
to the panel.”

The government also announced today that it is extending the current pension surplus-sharing regulation until December 31, 2009.