Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Pension Battle Continues in St John


From the St John Telegraph

The pension battle continues in St John, New Brunswick. It is one of the first of it's kind in Canada and may be the precedent case for public sector pensions across Country.
These plans are broke but no one wants to admit it, least of all those who are expecting a gold-plated pension plan paid for by the taxpayer.
As you can see in the editorial above the hope is that "A stock market rebound will restore some value to the pension fund's portfolio. It won't reduce the city's pension obligations or protect taxpayers from future deficits."
I am amazed by the insight of the Telegraph as they continue to report on this issue. They understand the problem, the unfairness of the situation and the huge cost to taxpayers and our society if the problem is not dealt with.
It is ironic that this situation is occurring in St John where the size of the problem is minuscule compared to pension problems lurking elsewhere in Canada. The Telegraph reports "Saint John's municipal pension plan has a going-concern deficit estimated at $146 million. Deficit payments could reach $9.7 million next year." This compares to the situation in Ontario for example with pension funds short an estimated $100 billion... yes billion.
The Ontario government in their recent budget announcement committed $10billion in pension payments (taxpayers money) to Ontario public sector plans over the next 4 years. The Ontario Teachers plan has accumulated over $110 billion of taxpayers money and is estimated to be short in excess of $30 billion. This is only one of several jumbo pension plans in Ontario with many more across the rest of Canada.
I thank the Telegraph very much for their coverage and the editorial cartoon. You can see the Blood Sucking Parasite cartoon on the side bar of the blog. Keep up the good work.

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