The Liberal Government continues to move forward with ORPP despite CPP being a “firm deal”
TORONTO – Today, the Minister of Finance Charles Sousa called the CPP expansion “a firm deal,” and when asked if it will be passed quickly he said, “Oh yeah! Absolutely!”
At the same time, his Associate Minister of Finance Indira Naidoo-Harris, who is responsible for the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan, had this to say: “The reality is that we still have an agreement in principle that has to be finalized by July 15th.
In a last ditch effort to keep her job, Naidoo-Harris later added, “Of course we’re looking at the possibility of winding down things in terms of the ORPP but at this point in time there are still a lot of steps to be taken before that happens.”
Meaning, 50 employees at the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan Administration Corporation (ORPP AC), including Saad Rafi and his $525,000 a year salary, will continue to be on the Government’s payroll.
By the Ministry of Finance’s own estimate, Ontario has already sunk at least $14 million into the ORPP. This does not include severance payments that may be awarded to employees of the ORPP AC.
Minister Naidoo-Harris said that the employees at the ORPP AC, “have been moving forward with the work they need to do to set up the framework and set up essentially the foundation that we needed to do to move forward with a made in Ontario solution.”
Are the 50 staff members at the Wynne Liberals’ ORPP bureaucracy continuing to set up the framework of the ORPP? Or are they simply being paid to wait around for the “agreement in principle” to pass?
If the CPP is as firm a deal as the Minister of Finance suggests, why are the taxpayers continuing to pay for ORPP bureaucracy, and why is Minister Naidoo-Harris still in cabinet?