Government Operations committee  It is important to remember that, in the past, employees could go to three or four different places to file one series of complaints only. From now on, there will be only one place where they will file their complaints and they will have the same fundamental rights. Having only o

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair; I'll be as brief as I can. I’m pleased to provide the government’s response to chapter 1 of the Auditor General’s 2014 spring report, specifically how we’ll act on the report’s recommendations. I have with me today Kim Gowing, who is a director in the pens

Public Accounts committee  In this respect, the government is the plan's proponent and remains responsible for the deficit. Given the imminent Supreme Court decision, we are very aware that we are responsible for surpluses and deficit issues. We currently have an actuarial deficit. The financial and actua

Public Accounts committee  I would add briefly that, recently, the President of the Treasury Board was very clear when he told the media that he was not considering such a plan for the time being. In his 21st report on the public service, the Clerk of the Privy Council indicated that we had already establi

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much for the question. The changes were brought into force for January 1, 2013, so the work was ongoing well before this audit began. In terms of the sustainability, we have looked at the contribution ratios. This involves serious thinking, as any prudent person

Public Accounts committee  We work very closely with all plans together, and as Mr. Valentini pointed out in his remarks, they invest all the funds for these three plans: RCMP, Canadian Forces, and ourselves.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, it did, and in fairness to the Auditor General's comments, we shared over 400 documents and three Treasury Board submissions. We held 13 meetings lasting 19 hours; 32 of our staff engaged with them over time. There would have been hundreds if not thousands of phone calls and

Public Accounts committee  If we are talking about the way that we evaluate our risks and the actuarial impact on the funds, I would say that this work is done by the Chief Actuary. He works closely with us over each three-year valuation period. As for the question on the period before 2000, when we did n

Public Accounts committee  Absolutely. The entire reason for moving to 50-50, and to changing the terms of the plan to change the retirement age to 65, was exactly to ensure their sustainability going forward.

Public Accounts committee  We were quite comfortable doing that. Having said that, there's always room for improvement in something as important as this. But we did it, and we did it quite willingly.

Public Accounts committee  Absolutely yes, and we'll set up a committee to work on that.

Public Accounts committee  Absolutely. We'll be able to do that. We hope to have our first meeting this summer.

Public Accounts committee  One of the key things is looking at governance. Later this fiscal year, or at the beginning of the next fiscal year, we want to make sure we've done a good benchmarking study. We want to look at other similar players around the world to see what the best practices are in governan

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much for the question. Under the existing legislation, there is already a requirement that the plan be invested in a way that it works towards the goals that are set by the chief actuary—in this case, 4.1%—in a way that doesn't bring undue risk to the fund. We re

Public Accounts committee  I would just say I think it's important to differentiate between the evidence around the decisions we did make and the decisions we didn't make. The assumptions that support the decisions that we did make are assumptions largely based on the work of the Chief Actuary, and those a