Will women lose under the new CPP?

In our existing CPP system, a person’s pension amount is calculated based on many factors, namely the number of years worked and the amount contributed into the CPP.

In the “old” system, women did not lose in their pension amounts by having taken some time away from work to (for example) raise children, provided they did not miss too many years from the workforce.

However, in the new system, recently fully agreed to, there is a “CPP dropout clause” under which it is not clear how women’s entitlement may change if they leave the workforce to raise children.

The dropout clause, which MPs have been debating, requires 40 years of contributions for someone to receive the maximum CPP benefits.

The Finance Minister apparently will be speaking to provincial ministers in December about this clause. Stay tuned.

This ad ran in the Richmond News on Dec. 9, 2016.