Wynne says no CPP deal if she hadn’t been ‘thorn in the side’ of other premiers

TORONTO – Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says there wouldn’t be a new national agreement to enhance the Canada Pension Plan if the province hadn’t pushed the issue so hard.

Wynne says she was a “thorn in the side” of the other premiers on the need to improve retirement income security for all Canadians, constantly raising the issue while also working to create an Ontario Retirement Pension Plan.

She says pension reform would have remained on the back burner if Ontario hadn’t pushed its own plan and put it out to be examined by the other provinces and federal government.

Related stories:

A quick look at changes coming to Canada Pension Plan, and Canadian wallets

Deal on Canada Pension Plan reform was swift in policy-making terms

Finance ministers reach CPP agreement; premiums to increase in 2019

Wynne says the deal with Ottawa and all other provinces except Quebec and Manitoba will provide about two-thirds of the benefit increases Ontario workers would have received under the ORPP, and will start only one year later, in 2019.

The premier couldn’t say how much it would cost to wind up the corporation set up to administer the ORPP, or how much was spent preparing for the provincial pension plan that will no longer be needed.

But Wynne insists there are “offsetting benefits” to the CPP agreement, including the fact that it will be less expensive to administer than a provincial plan, will be seamless for businesses and portable for workers who move between provinces.

“Had we not continued to work to implement the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan, had we not continued to put this issue on the table squarely with our colleagues across the country, I firmly believe that we would not be here today,” she said.