Canada: Government confirms plan to raise pension eligibility age

By artappraiser on Mon, 04/02/2012 - 12:54pm |

By Mark Kennedy, Postmedia News, March 29, 2012

OTTAWA — Canadians under the age of 54 will be forced to wait longer to qualify for their Old Age Security pensions, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced Thursday.

The controversial shift means that starting in 2023, the age of eligibility for OAS benefits will gradually increase to 67 from 65 [....]

In an apparent move to blunt some of the public uproar, Flaherty announced that pension plans for public servants will be changed to require that the employees pay a larger contribution: 50 per cent.

As well, the pension plan for politicians, often criticized as an overly generous "gold-plated" scheme, will be adjusted, starting in the next Parliament, so they are "comparable" with contribution rates made by public servants [....]

URL:

http://www.canada.com/health/Government+confirms+plan+raise+pension+eligibility/6380723/story.html