The Ontario Retirement Pension Plan

Canada Pension Plan (CPP) - CPP is a government sponsored pension plan available to all working Canadians. Everyone pays into it and receives retirement benefits based on how much and how long each person pays into it. The CPP provides pensions and benefits when contributors retire, become disabled, or die. The amount you contribute is based on your employment income.

Therefore, it allowed Canadians to lead healthier lives since they were able to pay reasonable prices to have more medical checkups, tests and treatments from any doctor that was available to them. The new act did not only make a change for the health of Canadians, but also for poverty rates in the country. Before this act, many citizens were unable to go to work for long periods of time as a result of not receiving expensive treatments for severe and benign diseases that they had. This forced families to live in poverty as it became difficult for them to gain income. However, since Pearson’s program made it more affordable for individuals to get the medical care they needed, such instances became less common as more people became financially able to get treatment. This allowed these people to then become physically able to obtain a job and raise themselves out of poverty. Furthermore, another way that Pearson contributed to the lives of Canadians was by creating the Canadian Pension Plan

The Chicago Fire Department and The Chicago Police Department are in danger of losing their pensions. These brave men and women put their lives on the line every day and this is how the government repays them. This is not securing their future of retirement. Citizens believe that our first responder’s pensions should be a high priority to Chicago’s to-do list. This City of Chicago owes these brave men and women a pension like they promised and if that means cutting funds to other things, then it should be done. The pension secures the men and women’s future of retirement, and by taking it away from them it may create unstable lives.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) is a piece of legislation enacted y the US Congress in 1974, after decades of similar legislation had been proposed and some of which had been enacted, but primarily as a means of addressing gaps in contemporary law and policy regarding employment pensions and retirement accounts (US Department of Labor, 2012). This legislation spells out certain requirements regarding information that retirement plan administrators must provide the participants and beneficiaries so that they can make pertinent decisions or take steps to safeguard their retirement savings, and also places certain guidelines and limitations on the conduct of managers of pension and retirement plans (USDOL, 2012). Government reporting standards and measures to ensure the protection of and proper access to retirement funds are also part of the legislation (USDOL, 2012).

The Canada Pension Plan is a contributory, earnings-related social insurance program. It ensures a measure of protection to a contributor and his or her family against the loss of income due to retirement, disability and death.

As you may know there are two types of pension plans that are most commonly used: a defined contribution plan and a defined benefit plan. “A defined contribution plan sets forth a certain amount that the employer is to contribute to the plan each period (Schroeder, Clark, & Cathey, "Pensions and Other Postretirement Benefits," 2011). “A defined benefit plan specifies the amount of pension benefits to be paid out to plan recipients in the future. Companies that use this plan must make sufficient contributions to the funding agency in order to meet benefit requirements

These concerns were reinforced by the fact that many elderly Canadians were applying for public relief.” However, it was not until several provinces began complaining about the amounting cost of relief that lead to the federal old age pension scheme. “Guest (as sited in Chappell, 2006) the federal government made a commitment to assist the elderly and the old age pensions act was established in 1927.” All Canadians were entitled once they reach the age of seventy or older in contrast to today, one can retire at the age of 60-65. The Canadian government eventually shared the cost of relief with the provincial government. The old age pension act has been criticized because of the inadequate in benefit pay outs. According to Guest (as sited in Chappell, 2006) in 1951, the old age pension was replaced by two pension plans, Old Age Security and Old Age Assistance.” The Old Age Security provides universal benefits and was funded by the federal government while the Old Age Assistance was funded by the federal and provincial government and managed by the province. As Guest (1997) pointed out, The Canadian Pension plan and Quebec Pension Plan was introduced in 1965 which individuals could collect once they retired, however they had to have made contribution between the ages of eighteen to seventy years of their working life.

We also offer subsidies for those of low-income to help bridge the gap of whether to pay the rent or eat. According to Stats Canada, more than 12 per cent of all Ontario senior citizens fall below the Low Income Measure, which defines and determines poverty. That number hits 27 per cent when looking at seniors who are also single. This is particularly troubling given that seniors are expected to make up 23 per cent of the population by the year 2030. The stress on single person households is also a cause for concern in the report. The basic income gap for Ontarians in these homes falls 33 per cent under the 2014 poverty line of $19,774, while someone on the provincial disability support program falls 60 per cent below this

Canada’s birth rates are below replacement levels and its population is aging, causing a significant drop in labour force growth over the long term. By 2030, nearly one out of every four Canadians will be 65 years or older. Moreover,

I don’t feel this program should be based on age alone. This program should be built on a person’s inability to meet their needs. For example, if someone who 70 and above who has chronic physical or mental illness, impoverished, or struggles with income and nutrition they have this program at their disposal. But what about those people that don’t meet the criteria for this program? Those that are between the age gap of 60 and 70 years old do we tell them- No that can’t have certain services based on an age requirement. According to the text, the OAA program is affected by changing perceptions of our Nation’s aging population. “Americans become more critical of programs that use age-based eligibility criteria, particularly if these programs fail to meet the needs of the most vulnerable elders” (). The key word is “vulnerable, ” and the program should be based on addressing the needs of those who most need it. I know many people may say that we have other programs in place to address the needs of individuals in our country. Programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, as well as many others to answer some of the older populations needs. However, I believe that we should also look at the humanistic requirements of each person not based on age or program eligibility. But their needs related to vulnerability such as health, income, family and caregivers, housing, medications, culture and independence. My grandmother is 92 years old and doesn’t need any of these services that the OAA has to offer. However, my neighbor down the street is in her middle 60’s has no living family and struggles with poor health and is disabled. She could benefit from services and programs but has not yet reached the age limit for all benefits from this program. Which seems unfair in my opinion. What it comes down to is that some older people will face hard times when it comes to aging.

A pension plan is set up to guarantee an individual a certain amount of money each month when they reach retirement age. In a pension plan, it is usually required to make monthly contributions of a set percentage, although most of the contribution will come from the employer. The creation of this plan takes into account the length of employment, salary, and other factors (Caldwell, p. 2). Till now legislators and businesses, have done improvements of these plans basing it with the change of economic situations, benefit formulas and coverage expansion. But how did pension start in United States? The first official implementation of pension in the United States was dated back since the signing of the U.S. constitution that was used as an

Mandatory retirement has a long history in the Canadian labour market system. Retirement is a social institution which emerged in the industrialized revolution during the beginning of the 20th century (McDonald 2). The social policy was developed along with the introduction of private and public pension plans (McDaniel and Um 75). Until recently, mandatory retirement was allowed in all of Canada jurisdictions except for Manitoba and Quebec (Gomez and Gunderson 2). Mandatory retirement was most prominent for males and persons with higher education, better health, full-time work, lived in urban locations and has higher income (Gomez and Gunderson 4). Maximum age limits are used by employers to institute mandatory retirement policies and the maximum age limits are used by employers to govern mandatory retirement policies. These limits have been challenged under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which applies to all

It is difficult to establish a fixed benchmark replacement rates for all individuals in a society as its adequacy depends on individual earnings and needs after retirement. In this report we will consider the

This system affects a huge variety of people all throughout the country; therefore, the outcome is going to be even more consequential if the whole thing ends up falling through. “Roughly 97 percent of all older persons receive monthly income through this nearly universal program” (Meyer 145). In fact,

Modern governments promise old age security, which ensures that their citizens can fend for themselves during old age. The approaches, however, may vary from society to society. In some like The United Kingdom and Canada, government pensions are distributed to the elderly. In some others such as Singapore, the people are compelled to provide in advance for their old age dependency. Some societies have laws in place to enforce children to take care of elderly parents. For example, in Singapore, elderly parents may file in to the court if their children do not provide for them. However, there are various financial concerns about these methods. In the case of government pensions, the heavy spending of public fund on the old aged may take a toll on other areas of the nation’s development. Thus a method that works in a society may not work in another and sometimes, multiple approaches have to be taken.