Sustaining Public Pensions in Canada: A Tale of Two Reforms

This paper, written for a Japanese-edited volume on pension reform in developed countries, analyzes and explains two recent public pension reform projects in Canada. The Seniors Benefit would have rationalized elderly benefits and improved payments to lower-income seniors, yet was attacked from both left and right and was subsequently abandoned by the federal government. By contrast, the reform of Canada Pension Plan financing – which is placing its heaviest burden of contribution increases on working Canadians with below-average income – has found broad support and has been implemented with little notice or controversy.

ISBN – 1-55382-062-2