{"id":725,"date":"2014-09-10T20:01:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T20:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rf.podcastfixit.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/10\/laval-announces-support-for-pension\/"},"modified":"2015-06-01T19:40:56","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T19:40:56","slug":"laval-announces-support-for-pension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/10\/laval-announces-support-for-pension\/","title":{"rendered":"Laval announces support for pension reform"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Robert Frank<\/b>
www.thesuburban.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Mayor Marc Demers went on record last month in support of a draft Quebec law that will reform municipal employees\u2019 pension plans\u2014but not without reservations.<\/p>\n

He told a legislative committee hearing, Aug. 26, that parlous finances have backed the province\u2019s third largest city into a corner on the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs elected officials, our ultimate allegiance is to our citizens,\u201d Mayor Demers stated, acknowledging that he faced \u201ca moral dilemma that pits our obligation to respect labour agreements against relieving our citizens from a crushing financial burden.\u201d<\/p>\n

He revealed the amount that Laval taxpayers will have to shell out to cover the shortfall in its municipal workers\u2019 pension fund\u2014a figure which has nearly doubled during the past five years. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven if we get a high return on [the money that is invested in the pension plan], it will only cover 78.8 percent of the city\u2019s pension obligations,\u201d Mayor Demers disclosed. \u201cMoreover, the burden shouldered by our citizens has shot up from 4.6 per cent to 8.6 per cent in five years. Our only alternative is to act!\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, he said that he preferred that labour and government negotiate their way out of the pension mess.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrue labour negotiation entails a degree of flexibility,\u201d he observed. \u201cFactors such as insurance plans, work schedules, retirement and even salaries are items that could be put on the negotiating table, but are currently excluded from the draft legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demers\u2019 political opponents at city hall accused the mayor of equivocation.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t support Bill 3 and then say that you don\u2019t want to apply it,\u201d Jean-Claude Gob\u00e9, who ran against Demers in last year\u2019s municipal election, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Gob\u00e9 also took issue with the city\u2019s pension underfunding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an urgent need to act,\u201d he said. \u201cThe pension plan needs to be funded to at least 85 per cent, and the city and its employees must contribute equally to filling that gap. It shouldn\u2019t just be up to taxpayers to foot the bill.\u201d <\/p>\n

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By Robert Frankwww.thesuburban.com Mayor Marc Demers went on record last month in support of a draft Quebec law that will reform municipal employees\u2019 pension plans\u2014but not without reservations. He told a legislative committee hearing, Aug. 26, that parlous finances have backed the province\u2019s third largest city into a corner on the issue. \u201cAs elected officials,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nLaval announces support for pension reform - Newscoverage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/10\/laval-announces-support-for-pension\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Laval announces support for pension reform - Newscoverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Robert Frankwww.thesuburban.com Mayor Marc Demers went on record last month in support of a draft Quebec law that will reform municipal employees\u2019 pension plans\u2014but not without reservations. 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