TORONTO – Ontario is bringing a former prime minister on board to help devise its own provincial pension plan.
Paul Martin and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne say the province is going it alone because the Canada Pension Plan won’t provide enough income security for most people.
Martin says pension income is an economic issue as well as a social one, and says it is “perfectly understandable” that Ontario is going with its own pension plan.
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Business groups, and the federal Conservative government, say the economy can’t handle an increase in pension contributions, which they call a job-killing payroll tax.
But Wynne dismisses the “fragile economy” arguments on pension contributions.
And Martin says increased payroll deductions for a new Ontario Pension Plan could be offset by reductions in premiums for the Employment Insurance program.
Wynne also notes that as federal finance minister, Martin was instrumental in the 1997 federal-provincial agreement to reform the C-P-P.
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