Quebec Employers Council reiterates its support of the Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act

MONTREAL, March 1, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - The Quebec Employers Council supported the federal government bill providing for the creation of Pooled Registered Pension Plans (PRPP) for federally regulated companies at public consultations set up by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance.

"The flexibility and adaptability envisaged by the PRPP will allow federally regulated companies that do not already have a pension plan to provide a simplified one for their employees," remarked Quebec Employers Council president Yves-Thomas Dorval. "Employers, notably those in the small and medium business sector, will thus have the opportunity to offer a plan that ensures financial security to their employees when they retire, but without having the fiduciary responsibility or being obliged to make contributions."

Moreover, the Employers Council believes this type of plan would be financially advantageous since the pooling of managing retirement contributions by a financial institution should reduce administrative costs and investment-management related costs.

General principles

The Employers Council proposes that discussions on the retirement-savings issue be guided by four main principles: no transferring of the burden to future generations; no hindering of businesses' competitiveness; no removing of individuals' responsibility; no increasing of businesses' administrative load. Any change should encourage a marked improvement in the investment rather than creating a substitution of an existing form of investment to another one. And the regulatory structure has to be simple and flexible. The simpler the plan is to put in place and the easier it is to administrate, the better chance it has to be successfully implemented.

Meanwhile, Québec's leading-edge status in the designing of innovative pension plans should be underscored. The Quebec Employers Council contends that a simplified and harmonized regulation among the provinces would enable financial institutions to obtain the required critical mass to be able to reduce costs and provide attractive opportunities for workers.

The Quebec Employers Council brings together many of Québec's largest companies and the vast majority of sector-based employers' groups, making it Québec's sole employer federation.

and interviews: 

Guillaume Bérubé
Consultant - Communications
Tél. : [phone], ext 227