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Get Ready to Pay Billions for Hydro

Defined Benefit Pensions - The math does not work



Gareth our Communications Director asks.... How can a public sector employee in a defined benefit plan contribute 13% of pay into their pension plan for 35 years and when they are retired collect 70% of their final average salary for 25, 30 or 35 years.

Get Ready to Pay Billions for Hydro

There were over 10,000 Hydro workers in Ontario earning an average salary of $138,037. This level of earning means fully qualified employees get a pension starting at $100,000 a year. In our book Pension Ponzi we had a chapter that highlighted Hydro pensions. The book showed the huge gap between what taxpayers funded into the pension plans compared to employees. At Hydro One in the past five years employees have contributed $119 million into the pension plan while taxpayers pumped in $ 720 million. At OPG it was $398 million for employees and $1.2 Billion taxpayers.

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Despite these gigantic contributions, Hydro One saw its pension shortfall double in 2012 to $1.5 Billion from $779 million the year before. At OPG the pensions shortfall rose to$3.6 Billion from $2.8 Billion. But it does not end there Hydro One owes employees another $1.4 Billion and OPG owes $3.1 Billion for "Future Retiree Benefits". These include free healthcare in retirement and sick times payouts.
  • Even after 30 years they are still broken
  • Sask. Teachers Pension (1930-80)
  • Today - Assets $891 million - Liabilities $5.4 billion
  • 1,211 employees contribute: $6.2 million
  • 11,604 retirees receive: $319 million
  • Taxpayers contribution (2010): $95.1 million
  • Bankruptcy: 2015
  • Future Taxpayer bill: $4.5 billion
THIS IS ONLY 1 SMALL PENSION WITH 12,000 MEMBERS This pension was highlighted in a recent Fraser Institute on pensions showing provinces why they need to wind them up quickly. Canada's Top Tier Universities - At least when it comes to pay In 2010 the University of Guelph pension shortfall was $344 million and a management report stated "funding requirements for the university’s pension plans now present the single largest and most immediate threat to the university’s fiscal stability" Nothing has been done since then and today unfunded liabilities are $741 M. The President's salary was $490,000 in 2012 up from $220,000 in 2002 when he started. His pension is worth 70% of his final average salary.


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Bill Tufts -- Bio and Archives

Bill Tufts, Fair Pensions For All, founded in January 2009, our goal is to promote an honest and fair analysis of our pension system; to expose abuse and waste within the system; to develops and promote new ideas and concepts on pensions based on fairness for all.

We maintain that it is every Canadian’s right to receive sufficient income in retirement to afford an acceptable quality of life.


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