Pension activists across the country were dismayed last month to see Conservative MPs and their accomplices working together to strip an NDP Bill designed to protect workers’ pensions.
C-501 was intended to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act to ensure that unfunded pension plan liabilities would be accorded the status of secure debts in the event of bankruptcy proceedings.
It was also intended to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act to provide former employees of a bankrupt corporation still owed amounts by the corporation with the means of proceedings with claims against the directors of the corporation.
In effect, the Bill would have given employees and retirees of a company the same protection as other creditors.
Corporate Canada disagreed and lobbied hard to have the Bill amended. They complained that their borrowing costs would increase if pension costs were considered a secured debt.
So, while the Bill was before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, the Conservatives and others voted together to strip all references to pensions from the Bill.
That means severance and termination pay will be a secured debt in the event of insolvency but pension holders would still be at the back of the line when a company goes bankrupt.
The Bill now comes back to the House of Commons for a third reading vote.
I hope that I will be able to tell you that MPs supported workers’ rights after that vote.
Although this Bill was stopped, New Democrats continue to advocate for better pension protections.
A new survey found that a whopping 76 per cent of Canadians want the government to increase Canada Pension Plan benefits.
That flies in the face of the Conservatives’ recent decision to ignore the CPP in favour of a private-sector retirement plan.
It also reinforces the New Democrat retirement security plan, which proposes a phased-in doubling of CPP benefits to $1,868 a month.
A full 93 per cent of Canadians are already members of the CPP. It’s low-cost, secure and inflation-protected.
Canada faces a retirement crisis. The recession exposed deep flaws in the way we prepare for retirement. Families have lost their savings and simply will not have enough to support themselves.
That’s why New Democrats have taken the lead on pension reform. In addition to raising CPP, we want to protect workplace pensions from corporate creditors and raise the GIS to lift seniors out of poverty.
