CLC says Finance Ministers’ CPP announcement is an important first step

OTTAWA – Since 2009, the Canadian Labour Congress has been actively campaigning for an expanded Canada Pension Plan. Today, it responded to the Finance Ministers’ announcement that they will begin discussion and consultation on options for the CPP going forward.

“Expanding the CPP is something Canadians support and it’s already long overdue,” said Canadian Labour Congress President Hassan Yussuff.

“We’ve had six years of consultation and research on this issue that we hope will inform the Ministers in this process and help them move forward quickly. We look forward to working with the provincial, territorial and federal governments to ensure an expanded CPP that benefits all Canadian workers,” Yussuff added.

Yussuff noted that nearly two in three working Canadians – 11 million workers – do not have a workplace pension plan.

“After a lifetime of hard work, no one should have to retire in poverty, yet that is what we see happening more and more. A universal expansion of the CPP is the best way to address our country’s retirement savings crisis,” Yussuff added.

Yussuff observed that even those workers with a workplace pension plan or alternate savings are vulnerable to financial insecurity in retirement. Fewer employers are offering workplace pensions, and more workplace pensions are seeing reduced benefits. By contrast, the CPP follows workers from job to job, keeps up with the cost of living, and pays out benefits for life, regardless of how the stock market performs.

Yussuff added: “Expanding the CPP is a smart move for governments and taxpayers. Because it is universal and funded exclusively by workers and their employers, it is extremely cost-effective and reliable.”

The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the labour movement, represents 3.3 million Canadian workers.