Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-t6hkb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T07:03:04.076Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ontario Pension Policy Making and the Politics of CPP Reform, 1963–2016

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 November 2019

Benjamin Christensen Open the ORCID record for Benjamin Christensen [Opens in a new window]
Benjamin Christensen*
Affiliation:
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Douglas College, 700 Royal Avenue, New Westminster, BC, V3M 5Z5
*
*Corresponding author Email: bchristensen282@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

After years of pension policy drift in a broader context of global austerity, the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) was enhanced for the first time in 2016 to expand benefits for Canadian workers. This article examines Ontario's central role in these reforms. The deteriorating condition of workplace plans, coupled with rising retirement income insecurity across the province's labour force, generated new sources of negative feedback at the provincial level, fuelling Ontario's campaign for CPP reform beginning in the late 2000s. The political limits of policy drift and layering at the provincial level is considered in relationship to policy making at the national level. As shown, a new period of pension politics emerged in Canada after 2009, in which the historical legacy of CPP's joint governance structure led to a dynamic of “collusive benchmarking,” shaped in large part by political efforts of the Ontario government, leading to CPP enhancement.

Résumé

Résumé

Après des années d'inaction politique, dans un contexte plus large d'austérité mondiale, le Régime de pensions du Canada (RPC) a été bonifié pour la première fois en 2016 pour améliorer les prestations des travailleurs canadiens. Le présent article examine le rôle central de l'Ontario dans l'avènement de ces réformes. La détérioration de l'état des régimes de retraite en milieu de travail, conjuguée à l'insécurité croissante du revenu de retraite dans l'ensemble de la population active de la province, a généré de nouvelles sources de rétroaction négative au niveau provincial, alimentant la campagne de l'Ontario en faveur de la réforme du RPC qui a débuté vers la fin des années 2000. Les limites de la politique «d'inaction » et de l'étagement des politiques au niveau provincial sont examinées en relation avec l'élaboration des politiques au niveau national. Comme indiqué, une nouvelle période de politique des régimes de retraite est apparue au Canada après 2009, au cours de laquelle l'héritage historique de la structure de gouvernance conjointe du RPC a donné lieu à une dynamique de « référenciation collusoire », façonnée en grande partie par les efforts politiques du gouvernement de l'Ontario conduisant à une amélioration du RPC.

Keywords

pension policypension politicsCanada Pension PlanOntario politicspolicy makingriskpolitique des régimes de retraiteRégime de pensions du Canadapolitique ontariennepolitique publiquerisque
Type
Research Article/Étude originale
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , March 2020 , pp. 1 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ambachtsheer, Keith. P. 2007. Pension Revolution: A Solution to the Pensions Crisis. Hoboken: Wiley.Google Scholar
Ambachtsheer, Keith P. and Waitzer, Ed. 2011. “It's Time to Act on Pension Reform.” Globe & Mail, December 19. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/its-time-to-act-on-pension-reform/article620777/ (July 1, 2018).Google Scholar
Amenta, Edwin. 1998. Bold Relief: Institutional Politics and the Origins of Modern American Social Policy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Artuso, Antonella. 2012. “Ontario Liberals Blocking New Pension Plan Option, PCs Say.” Toronto Sun, November 15. http://www.torontosun.com/2012/11/15/ontario-liberals-blocking-new-pension-plan-option-pcs-say?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=recommend-button&utm_campaign=Ontario Liberals blocking new pension plan option, PCs say (October 6, 2015).Google Scholar
Baldwin, Bob. 2009. Research Study on the Canadian Retirement Income System. Toronto: Ministry of Finance: Government of Ontario.Google Scholar
Béland, Daniel. 2010. “Reconsidering Policy Feedback: How Policies Affect Politics.” Administration & Society 42 (5): 568–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Béland, Daniel and Gran, Brian, eds. 2008. Public and Private Social Policy: Health and Pension Policies in a New Era. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Béland, Daniel and Myles, John. 2005. “Stasis amidst Change: Canadian Pension Reform in an Age of Retrenchment.” In Aging and Pension Reform around the World: Evidence from Eleven Countries, ed. Bonoli, Giuliano and Shinkawa, Toshimitsu. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Béland, Daniel and Myles, John. 2012. “Varieties of Federalism, Institutional Legacies, and Social Policy: Comparing Old-Age and Unemployment Insurance Reform in Canada.” International Journal of Social Welfare 21: S75–S87CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Béland, Daniel and Weaver, R. Kent. 2018. “Federalism and the Politics of the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans.” Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy 35 (1): 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blackburn, Robin. 2002. Banking on Death; Or, Investing in Life: The History and Future of Pensions. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Brown, Robert and Meredith, Tyler. 2012. Pooled Target-Benefit Pension Plans: Building on PRPPs. IRPP Study 27. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy.Google Scholar
Campbell, John L. 2004. Institutional Change and Globalization. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Carmichael, Isla. 2005. Pension Power: Unions, Pension Funds, and Social Investment in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CBC. 2016. “Manitoba Agrees to Sign Canada Pension Plan Reform Deal”, July 7. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/cpp-manitoba-agreement-1.3669412Google Scholar
Christensen, Benjamin. 2016. “The Struggle for Security: Risk, Politics and Pension Policy in Ontario, 1960–2016.” Doctoral dissertation. York University, Toronto, Ontario.Google Scholar
Christensen, Benjamin. 2018. “Come Together for Pension Justice: The History of Retirement Security in Canada Is Pro-employer. With a Bit of Collaboration, the Future Can Be Pro-worker.” Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Monitor 24 (6) (April/May): 32–35.Google Scholar
Department of Finance Canada. 2016. Finance Ministers’ Meeting. Ottawa: Government of Canada. http://www.fin.gc.ca/n16/docs/cpp-pc-eng.pdf (November 18, 2016).Google Scholar
Evans, Bryan M. and Smith, Charles W.. 2015. “The Transformation of Ontario Politics: The Long Ascent of Neoliberalism.” In Transforming Provincial Politics: The Political Economy of Canada's Provinces and Territories in the Neoliberal Era, ed. Evans, Bryan and Smith, Charles W.. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Galarneau, Diane and Sohn, Thao. 2013. “Long-Term Trends in Unionization.” Insights on Canadian Society. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-006-x/2013001/article/11878-eng.pdf (March 16, 2014).Google Scholar
Hacker, Jacob. S. 2004. “Privatizing Risk without Privatizing the Welfare State: The Hidden Politics of Social Policy Retrenchment in the United States.” American Political Science Review 98 (2): 243–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddow, Rodney and Klassen, Thomas. 2006. Partisanship, Globalization, and Canadian Labour Market Policy: Four Provinces in Comparative Perspective. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Peter. 1993. “Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State: The Case of Economic Policymaking in Britain.” Comparative Politics 25 (3): 275–96. https://doi.org/10.2307/422246CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, Kathryn. 2006. “Provincial Interdependence: Concepts and Theories.” In Racing to the Bottom? Provincial Interdependence in the Canadian Federation, ed. Harrison, Kathryn. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Horner, Keith. 2009. Retirement Saving by Canadian Household. Ottawa: Department of Finance.Google Scholar
Immergut, Ellen M. 1998. “The Theoretical Core of the New Institutionalism.” Politics and Society 26 (1): 5–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, Alan M. and Weaver, R. Kent. 2014. “Feedback as a Source of Policy Change.” Governance 28 (4): 441–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaplan, Ari. N. and Frazer, Mitch. 2013. Pension Law. 2nd ed.Toronto: Irwin Law.Google Scholar
Kesselman, Jonathan R. 2010. “Expanding Canada Pension Plan Retirement Benefits: Assessing Big CPP Proposals.” The School of Public Policy Publications 3 (6): 1–31.Google Scholar
Kingdon, John W. 1984. Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Leech, Jim and McNish, Jacquie. 2013. The Third Rail: Confronting Our Pension Failures. Toronto: Signal.Google Scholar
Little, Bruce. 2008. Fixing the Future: How Canada's Usually Fractious Governments Worked Together to Rescue the Canada Pension Plan. Toronto: Rotman-UTP.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marmer, Harry S. 1997. “The Evolving Role of the Pension Investment Consultant.” In Pension Fund Investment Management, ed. Fabozzi, Frank. J.. New Hope: Frank J. Fabozzi Associates.Google Scholar
McFarland, Janet. 2011. “CPP Expansion Efforts Flagging, Ontario's Duncan Says.” Globe & Mail, July 20. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/cpp-expansion-efforts-flagging-ontarios-duncan-says/article4260028/ (September 9, 2016).Google Scholar
McFarland, Janet, and McGugan, Ian. 2016. “CPP Reform: What's Changing and How It Will Affect You.” Globe & Mail, June 21. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/retirement/cpp-reform-whats-changing-and-how-it-will-affectyou/article30551445/ (October 24, 2019).Google Scholar
Mintz, Jack. 2009. Summary Report on Retirement Income Adequacy Research. Calgary: School of Public Policy, University of Calgary. https://www.fin.gc.ca/activty/pubs/pension/pdf/riar-narr-BD-eng.pdf (February 5, 2013).Google Scholar
Myles, John. 2013. “Income Security for Seniors: System Maintenance and Policy Drift.” In Inequality and the Fading of Redistributive Politics, ed. Banting, Keith and Myles, John. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
OECP (Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions). 2008. A Fine Balance: Safe Pensions, Affordable Plans, Fair Rules. Toronto: Ontario Government.Google Scholar
Orenstein, Mitchell A. 2008. Privatizing Pensions: The Transnational Campaign for Social Security Reform. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orloff, Ann S. 1993. Politics of Pensions: A Comparative Analysis of Britain, Canada, and the United States, 1880–1940. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Patashnik, Eric M. and Zelizer, Julian E.. 2013. “The Struggle to Remake Politics: Liberal Reform and the Limits of Policy Feedback in the Contemporary American State.” Perspectives on Politics 11 (4): 1071–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, B. Guy, Pierre, Jon and King, Desmond S.. 2005. “The Politics of Path Dependence: Political Conflict in Historical Institutionalism.” Journal of Politics 67 (4): 1275–3000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, Paul. 1993. “When Effect Becomes Cause: Policy Feedback and Political Change.” World Politics 45 (4): 595–628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, Paul. 1996. “The New Politics of the Welfare State.” World Politics 48 (2): 143–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rice, James J. and Prince, Michael J.. 2013. Changing Politics of Canadian Social Policy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Shilton, Elizabeth J. 2016. Empty Promises: Why Workplace Pension Law Doesn't Deliver Pensions. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar
Skocpol, Theda. 1992. Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: The Political Origins of Social Policy in the United States. Cambridge: Belknap Press.Google Scholar
Sorenson, Kevin. 2013. “Kevin Sorenson: CPP Boost Would Kill Jobs.” Financial Post, December 14. http://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/kevin-sorenson-cpp-boost-would-kill-jobs (September 9, 2016).Google Scholar
Statistics Canada. 2015. “Pensions: The Ups and Downs of Pension Coverage in Canada.” http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-630-x/11-630-x2015003-eng.htm (August 29, 2016).Google Scholar
Steinmo, Sven, Thelen, Kathleen and Longstreth, Frank. 1992. Structuring Politics: Historical Intuitionalism in Comparative Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Streeck, Wolfgang and Thelen, Kathleen, eds. 2005. Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Townson, Monica. 2001. Pensions under Attack: What's behind the Push to Privatize Public Pensions. Toronto: Lorimer.Google Scholar
Townson, Monica. 2011. Pension Breakdown: How the Finance Ministers Bungled Pension Reform. Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.Google Scholar
Weaver, R. Kent. 2010. “Paths and Forks or Chutes and Ladders? Negative Feedbacks and Policy Regime Change.” Journal of Public Policy 20 (2): 137–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weitz, Harry. 1992. The Pension Promise: The Past and Future of Canada's Private Pension System. Scarborough: Carswell Legal Publications.Google Scholar
Wherry, Aaron. 2016. “How the Federal and Provincial Governments Made a Deal on CPP.” CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cpp-provinces-agreement-1.3645278 (February 21, 2019).Google Scholar
World Bank. 1994. Averting the Old Age Crisis: Policies to Protect the Old and Promote Growth. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar