Cambridge, Ontario – The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Member of Parliament for Cambridge and North Dumfries, today encouraged his constituents to participate in the Government of Canada’s consultation process on Canada’s retirement income system by visiting the Department of Finance’s website: http://www.fin.gc.ca.  

“Canadians work hard to realize their retirement dreams. Our Government will be giving Canadians an unprecedented opportunity to provide direct input on the future security and soundness of Canada’s retirement income system,” said Minister Goodyear.

Launched by Canada’s Minister of Finance, the Honourable Jim Flaherty, as well as his colleagues, these consultations also include a series of cross-country roundtable discussions, speaking engagements and town hall meetings. They will help gather input from Canadians and help inform discussions at the next meeting of federal, provincial and territorial Ministers of Finance in May, where the retirement income system will be a key agenda item.


Background

To support a strong retirement income system over the long term, federal, provincial and territorial Ministers of Finance established a Research Working Group in May 2009, chaired by Parliamentary Secretary Ted Menzies, to expand governments’ understanding of retirement income adequacy issues.

The group’s summary report was presented to Ministers of Finance and Ministers responsible for pensions at their December 2009 meeting in Whitehorse by its research director, Professor Jack Mintz.

While the report confirms the relative strength of Canada’s retirement income system, Ministers tasked senior officials to work collaboratively over the following months to analyze the wide range of ideas that have been put forward by various stakeholders, experts and commentators to further strengthen Canada’s government-supported retirement income system.
The consultations announced today underscore Ministers’ agreement that the collaborative work undertaken by officials should take into account the broader public discussion on retirement income adequacy and pension issues, as well as research and any consultations undertaken by governments.

Canada’s Ministers of Finance will discuss the findings from these consultations and appropriate next steps at their May meeting.