Canadian Lawyer

February 2009

The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers

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LEGAL REPORT: LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT Pension plans Across the country, expert panels are working on ways to improve and increase pension coverage for workers. BY GL ENN KAUTH in the number of unionized manufacturing jobs," he says. As a result, he argues one easy solution to the pension gap is to ease labour laws to increase unionization. "It seems to me a low- cost way to stem the tide of the reduction in people covered by pensions." McCreary admits the idea is controversial, and it's one that T got no mention in a recent report, "A Fine Balance: Safe Pen- sions, Affordable Plans, Fair Rules," written for the Ontario government by former York University president Harry Ar- thurs. The goal, Arthurs says, was to find ways to wrest defined- benefit pension plans from their downward spiral, a prospect that has become particularly glaring during the recent plunge in the stock market. Doing that, he argues, requires changing the rules to both protect workers' rights — something Mc- Creary likes — while making it more attractive for businesses to keep and set up pension plans. The report, released last November, came at a time of great debate on the future of pensions, a benefit less than 35 per cent oronto labour lawyer Mike McCreary has a quick fix for the pension woes Canadian workers face. "One of the ma- jor factors [for the decline in pensions] was the reduction of Ontario workers now enjoy, Arthurs notes. Around the same time he released his work, a six-member panel wrapped up its study on harmonizing pension rules across Alberta and British Columbia. Also last fall, three experts appointed by the Nova Scotia government to examine the issue released their interim proposals for pension reform. But while the reports happened to come at a critical time, the authors say the overlap was simply a coincidence. "The tim- ing of both reports was a bit unfortunate," says Christopher Brown, a partner with Osler Hoskin and Harcourt LLP in Cal- gary who co-chaired the panel for the two western provinces. "Ontario's was done before the crisis started to kick into high gear in September. Ours was well on its way to being finished when things really got serious in October. But at the same time, I think it's important to remember that these rules, just like pension plans themselves, are intended to operate for the long term. These funding crises, as bad as this current one is, will resolve in time and get back to normal." The challenge for Brown and his fellow panel members was to come up with common rules for both British Colum- bia and Alberta, something the two provinces are striving for more generally in a bid to strengthen the trade, investment, www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com FEBRU AR Y 2009 41 ILLUSTRATION: JEREMY BRUNEEL

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