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Ontario Government Announces Phase 2 of Pension Reform

The Ontario government has released a backgrounder outlining proposed measures for Phase 2 of its pension reform agenda.  The proposed reforms would add another layer of restrictive rules on private sector defined benefit pension plans and introduce favourable rules for pension plans in the broader public sector.

Among other things, Phase 2 proposes to:

  • Impose a minimum assessment fee, increase the base fee per member, and increase the maximum fee per member to fund the Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund;
  • Allow the use irrevocable letters of credit to fund a portion of solvency liabilities;
  • Allow contribution holidays unless expressly prohibited by the plan or if taking the holiday would reduce a plan's solvency below a prescribed threshold;
  • Require employers to disclose their intention to take a contribution holiday;
  • Limit "smoothing" of pension plan assets and liabilities;
  • Introduce a binding arbitration process to resolve disputes over surplus entitlement;
  • Adopt the new quantitative investment limits in the federal Pension Benefits Standards Act;
  • Permit the payment of reasonable expenses from a pension fund unless prohibited by pension plan documents;
  • Exempt target benefit multi-employer and jointly sponsored pension plans from solvency funding requirements; and,
  • Give public sector employers more time to pay down solvency deficiencies.

For more detailed information on Phase 2 of Ontario's pension reform agenda, please see Heenan Blaikie's Pension Pulse " Ontario Government Announces Phase 2 of Pension Reform" (pdf).

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