Many Canadian cities are short of affordable rental housing. Waiting lists for low-income housing are years in length, and new-build construction of rental housing has fallen over the last two decades. This study proposes a better way to build more low-income housing in expensive Canadian...

What accounts for the truly remarkable drop in welfare dependency in Canada since the early 1990s? The authors provide a nationwide empirical analysis of the underlying factors, and draw implications for policymakers.

Defined-benefit (DB) pension plans have been in trouble in recent years, largely because their sponsors have tended to underestimate their liabilities. As Canadians saving for retirement in registered retirement saving plans and defined-contribution pension plans have begun to realize, low...

The federal government appears to believe that pay in the federal public sector should be comparable to pay in the private sector on a total compensation basis. Two recent government reports are generally consistent with this view. To implement this principle, pensions must be valued...

Important changes are now underway to Canada Pension Plan “adjustment factors” that will increase the penalty for those who retire before age 65, and will raise the amount of additional CPP benefits available for those who delay retirement beyond 65. The new pension adjustment factors have...

Public-sector pension plans in Canada are generally large, efficient and well managed. Funding levels are healthy when compared to private-sector pension plans in Canada and public-sector pension plans elsewhere. .And yet, all is not well. There are large differences between the fair values of...

The limitations inherent in the traditional pension models – defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) – are facing increased scrutiny and new models are developing in response to these pressures. Due to extremely low interest rates and the volatility of equity markets, over the...

There are little-acknowledged yet striking inequities built into the payout formulas of defined-benefit (DB) pension plans, which are typically provided to government employees across Canada. An analysis of representative DB plans shows they systematically transfer income away from groups of...

Canada’s maze of differing pension regulations by province and territory discourages the creation of national, single-employer pension plans. Four options for reform – and greater harmonization – should be on the table.

Provisions in defined-benefit pension plans may bring down employment rates among older workers — a concern for employers, and for policymakers projecting the impact of babyboomers’ mass retirement from the labour force.