Fredericton (February 14, 2013): The future of pension plans is on the agenda at the National Summit on Pension Reform on February 19-20 in Fredericton. Paul Moist, the National President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, is one of the speakers, and has a clear message for Premier David Alward and the other attendees: It is time to expand the Canada Pension Plan(CPP).

“Retirement insecurity is a growing national crisis.  More than six in 10 Canadian workers are without a workplace pension plan,” said Moist. A gradual and modest expansion of the CPP is the best way to ensure that happens.”

Many workplace pension plans are experiencing funding challenges, suffering from recession losses and historically low interest rates.

“I commend the province of New Brunswick for hosting this needed discussion on the future of workplace pension plans,” added Moist.  “CUPE is committed to working with employers and governments to meet challenges facing workplace pensions in a fair and reasonable way.”

Moist will also speak about the challenges of using the reforms implemented by New Brunswick as a template for the rest of Canada. “The New Brunswick solution, while arguably appropriate for New Brunswick, is not and will not be “trend-setters” for the rest of Canada.”

Moist will participate in a panel on February 20 at 10:45 a.m. on National Pension issues along with Leo De Bever, CEO of AIMCo, Tom Smee the Senior Vice-President at RBC and Tom Reid from Sun Life Financial.