Ontario's Expert Commission on Pensions (the Commission)
released its final report, A Fine Balance: Safe Pensions,
Affordable Plans, Fair Rules (the Report), on November 20,
2008. The Commission, created back in November 2006, was mandated
to examine the rules governing defined benefit (DB) registered
pension plans, including funding, use of surplus, and the general
security, viability and sustainability of the province's DB
pension system. The Report, a weighty 222 pages plus annexes,
contains no less than 142 recommendations aimed at solidifying and
promoting DB plan coverage.
First and foremost, the Commission ought to be applauded for
conducting such a thorough analysis of the highly important and
complex pension issues facing Ontario. The Report marks the
culmination of two years of intensive research and in-depth
consultation with stakeholders; it is an extremely well-written and
thoughtful piece of work that markedly elevates the level of
pension discourse in
