NONE of the provincial Liberal leadership candidates are focussing on the one big problem facing society today. And that’s pensions or rather, when it comes to the private sector employee at least, the lack of pensions.
Simply put, not enough people are saving enough to see themselves right in retirement. More to the point is that too many people are unable to save enough money in the first place because of other pressures. Canada Pension Plan deductions did go up dramatically in the last decade but the growing fear is that the plan alone will not be able to support senior Canadians in the years ahead.
A specific challenge within the larger pension problem is the gap between plans for the public sector and those of everyone else. No one begrudges anyone a happy retirement but someone somewhere someday needs to address the inequity of a private sector employee paying to support a pension plan they themselves can only dream of enjoying.
Although pension provision is viewed as more of a federal government responsibility it would be a foolish new Liberal party leader and, by definition, premier of the province that does not put this on top of his or her governing agenda.
Shaking their heads about how their soon-to-be former boss introduced the Harmonized Sales Tax may be good politics, but addressing the pension gap is about good governing.