Union and Canada’s Treasury Board clash over pension surplus amid allegations of ‘misleading information’
Anita Anand, the president of the Treasury Board of Canada, has accused a federal public service union of sharing “misleading information” about public service pensions.
On 25 November, Anand announced that the Public Service Pension Plan, a defined-benefit pension plan for federal government employees, has a “non-permitted surplus” of approximately C$1.9bn. Under the Public Service Superannuation Act, a registered pension plan’s assets cannot become 25% greater than its liabilities. If this happens, the government must act to bring the surplus within limits.
Anand said that the government would transfer the non-permitted surplus to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, a central government bank account, “where it will be held until the next steps are considered”.
Union to oppose move
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) accused the government of “taking” the funds and said it would “oppose any attempts to unilaterally allocate these funds”.
“Federal workers built this pension surplus through their own hard-earned contributions, and taking these funds is a betrayal of their trust,” said Sharon DeSousa, PSAC national president. “It also sets a dangerous precedent for all Canadian employers who may now be eyeing the pension contributions of other public sector workers.”
PSAC also launched a campaign named Stop Pension Theft claiming that the government plans to “pocket $9.3bn from the federal public service pension”, including suspending $7.4bn of government contributions over four years.
A Treasury Board Secretariat spokesperson told the Ottawa Citizen that the government would not be ceasing employer contributions.
“To say that we are, as a government, stealing the pensions from public servants is completely inaccurate,” Anand told reporters in Ottawa earlier this week.
“The non-permitted surplus is required to be transferred under legislation.”
“I would expect that the PSAC would take the time to correct the misleading information being shared with its members about the Public Service Pension Plan which is fully guaranteed by the Government of Canada on behalf of Canadian taxpayers,” she added.
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Proposed solutions
DeSousa told CTV News Ottawa: “I think the minister is misinforming the people when it comes to the decision-making process and what her capacity is.
“The legislation requires her to take action and there are a variety of options available to her that would have benefited workers as well.”
PSAC says it is proposing “fair and reasonable solutions” to address the pension surplus, including suspending employee contributions and reversing a system introduced in 2012 under the previous Conservative government requiring anyone hired after 2013 to wait until age 60 to retire.
About Sarah Wray
Sarah has over 15 years’ experience as a journalist with a specialism in the public sector and topics such as digitalisation and climate action. Sarah was formerly the editor of Cities Today and Smart Cities World, as well as a specialist video-based publication in the aerospace sector. She has also written for publications including Smart Cities Dive, Mobile Europe, Mobile World Live and Computer Weekly.
