Pension Pulse

Benefits Canada reports that according to new survey by HOOPP and Abacus Data, 65% of younger Canadian employees willing to switch jobs for a DB pension plan:  Nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of Canadian employees aged younger than 35 say they’d consider changing jobs if a new employer offered a defined benefit pension plan, according to a new survey by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and Abacus Data. The survey, which polled more than 2,000 workers, found 63 per cent of younger Canadians said they might relocate to another community to have access to a job with a DB pension. More than nine in 10 Canadians said they’d choose to pay nine per cent of their salary, with contributions matched by their employer, into a DB pension plan in exchange for secure lifetime income in retirement. Seven in 10 (69 per cent) said they’d take a slightly lower salary if the job came with a pension and more than half (57 per cent) said they’d choose a guaranteed lifetime p...

James Bradshaw of the Globe and Mail reports  B.C. pension manager BCI gains 6.7% and puts money to work in private markets facing pressure: British Columbia Investment Management Corp. made a record $35.7-billion of new investments in private assets last fiscal year, leaning into market turmoil that has strained companies’ valuations and debts. Victoria-based BCI earned a 6.7-per-cent return on its investments in the fiscal year that ended March 31. That fell short of its internal benchmark of 7.6 per cent. The pension fund’s performance largely tracked the same themes that shaped annual results from other large Canadian pension investors . Stocks produced strong gains, private assets underperformed and benchmarks were hard to meet because they are heavily tilted toward the largest U.S. technology companies that have soared in value. But BCI treated a tough year in private markets as an opportunity to buy assets at a discount as inflation, tariffs and wars slowed dea...

Earlier today, CAAT Pension Plan issued a press release on nine key findings that reveal gaps between Canadians’ retirement expectations and reality:  TORONTO, June 18, 2026 – Most Canadians expect that they can fund retirement themselves. Retirees tell a different story. A new study uncovers a striking disconnect between what Canadians expect their retirement to look like and what’s actually happening on the ground: One in four working Canadians expect personal savings to be a primary source of retirement income, but only 15% of retirees actually report using it as a primary source of retirement income Retirees are far more likely to rely on public programs and workplace pensions (with 58% primarily relying on CPP/OAS) Defined benefit pension income accounts for 48% of retirement income (for those with a pension) These findings are part of a new CAAT insight brief, Nine Realities of Canadian Retirement opens in a new tab , which explores how Canadians think about retirem...