One Pension Plan Turns Into Two – The Premier Wants Both the ORPP and CPP

QUEEN’S PARK – Today MPP Julia Munro, PC Critic for the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP), asked the government why it’s still spending money preparing the job-killing ORPP payroll tax when the new federal government has promised to enhance the CPP instead.

“The ORPP will remove 3.8% from Ontario’s economy and an enhanced CPP could extract another 4% from Ontario’s economy,” stated MPP Munro. “In total, if both the ORPP and enhanced CPP are implemented, together they will extract 18% from incomes (up from 10%) – that’s before any income tax is paid.  CFIB has estimated that the ORPP would kill over 40,000 jobs in Ontario in 2020 if the ORPP moves forward.  How many jobs would be lost if both an enhanced CPP and the ORPP are implemented?”

As the exchange below indicates, the government does not intend to stop the ORPP, as the Premier promised if the federal Liberals were elected:

Question – MPP Julia Munro:

“Again to the Associate Minister: Ontarians want to know if the Premier wants both her new ORPP as well as a bigger CPP. Ontarians and their employers need to know how much more government is going to take from them by raising payroll taxes and reducing their take-home pay.  This is a frightening question. I don’t know if I want to hear the answer. Can the Associate Minister tell us, is the Premier now thinking of keeping her job-killing ORPP payroll tax on top of an enhanced CPP?”

Answer – Hon. Mitzie Hunter:

“Our Premier has been very, very clear that we are moving forward with the implementation of the ORPP. We  know that Ontarians deserve a secure retirement future when they retire. We’ve communicated to business and advised them of the implementation schedule and the rollout schedule, which will happen gradually. In January, 2017, we will enrol the largest corporations, moving to medium-sized and then finally, in 2019, with small businesses. We will phase in contribution rates gradually over time as well.”