TORONTO, Jan 26 (LifeSiteNews) More warnings about Canada’s demographic crisis have surfaced with a report released yesterday by Canada’s corporate and public sector pension plan sponsors and the professional firms that advise them. They warned that “a demographic time bomb threatens Canada’s public and private retirement plans.” The Association of Canadian Pension Management (ACPM) said that “without major changes over the next few years, the combined forces of the retirement of the Boomer generation, rising life expectancies and falling birth rates will seriously strain—and could rupture—our retirement and health care systems by 2030.” The report explains: “that is when all Boomers will be at least 65-years-old, and there are expected to be just two active workers for each retiree. That ratio is now 4-to-1.”
The ACPM report—Dependence or Self-Reliance: Which Way for Canada’s Retirement Income System?—was prepared by a volunteer task force of concerned retirement finance experts. The report calls for national debate on measures to ensure that future retirees can live comfortably while future workers are not unfairly burdened. Without well thought-out changes, Canada will have a large number of dependent seniors by 2030 whose support will require large tax bills for future generations.
Ten recommendations listed in the ACPM press release involve increasing contributions, and allowing for more private coverage but fail to address the heart of the issue, that Canadians must abandon their anti-natalist mentality and begin again to welcome children as a blessing to couples and the nation rather than a burden.
See the report here.