By immense margins, CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS business panel embrace the four main pension reforms being introduced by the Harper government:

• Replacing current regulations, which may punish companies from running surpluses, with reforms that allow the building of pension surpluses;
• Limiting companies’ abilities to sweeten benefits unless the plan is at least 85% funded;
• Requiring companies that wind down pension plans in deficit to pay out all the obligations they owe workers; and
• Encouraging companies to contribute unless the pension is running at least a 5% surplus, unlike the present situation where companies can avoid contributing if the plan breaks even.

Among potential new reforms being proposed by some Opposition members, panelists are especially supportive of the idea of legal priorizing of pension rights in the event of corporate bankruptcy.

These are the key findings from this past week’s Internet survey of CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS panel. The weekly business survey is undertaken for Canadian Business magazine under sponsorship of BDO Dunwoody LLP.

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