Contributions still being accepted. Thank You!
Public Servants living long and putting death benefit account into surplus - Ottawa Citizen
Kathryn May, Ottawa Citizen February 19, 2016
Shannon Bittman, VP of the Professional Institute of the Public Service is concerned about the surplus in the death benefit.
Canada’s public servants are living so long their death-benefits account has a $2.6-billion surplus.
That has some worried that the federal government could use the overage to offset its mounting deficit. The latest actuarial report by the Office of the Chief Actuary into the 60-year-old plan showed had a $2.6-billion surplus after setting aside $642 million in death benefits obligations for 2014. The plan has been running surpluses for years and the report estimates it will hit $4.3-billion by 2039.
The premiums and interest are not set aside but instead go into the consolidated revenue account, from which the government also pays all benefits.
That’s one reason why the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, which represents professionals from federal engineers to scientists, has long argued the fund should be transferred from the consolidated revenue account into a segregated fund.
Federal Minister of Finance and Pension and NB Shared Risk/Visionez: Le defi du Ministre Federal des Finances sur les Pensions et le Régime à Risque Partagé du NB
Attached is a recent article that appeared in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper on federal pensions as well as comments on NB Shared Risk plan.
Ci- joint un article qui a paru recemment dans le Ottawa Citizen, sur les régimes de pension du federal, ainsi que commentaires sur le Regime de Pension à Risque Partage.
Public service professionals suing NB government over pension reforms - Telegraph Journal
CHRIS MORRIS Legislature Bureau January 24, 2016
The New Brunswick government is facing a second lawsuit over changes made to public sector pensions that have raised the ire of retirees and some unions.
The previous Tory government’s decision to convert existing pensions to a shared-risk model, put into effect in 2014, has been the subject of protest and litigation. Now a national public sector union is moving ahead with its lawsuit against the province.
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada has filed a notice of action in the Court of Queen’s Bench in Fredericton, alleging that the New Brunswick pension reform violates section 2D of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, specifically freedom of association.
The Ups and Downs of Stochastic Modelling
As a follow-up to their recent report prepared for CUPE (see posting on Coalition's web-site of 31 July 2015 - "CUPE Holding Premier to Campaign Promises") PBI Actuarial Consultants have posted another article examining "Stochastic Modelling."
Update - Mise a Jour
Dear retirees, families and friends of the Coalition. Your Coalition is pleased to inform you that other legal challenges are being commenced by other plaintiffs against the Province and other defendants concerning their pension entitlement. In fact, a Notice of Action and a Statement of Claim was filed in the Court of Queen’s Bench of NB, Trial Division, December 30, 2015. We are very pleased with this outcome and will advise of any new developments.