Ontario's proposed supplemental public pension plan will phase in when and how much companies without workplace retirement plans and their employees must contribute, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said Tuesday.
The Ontario Retirement Pension Plan, scheduled to begin in January 2017, will require employers with at least 500 employees and their workers to each contribute 0.8% of pay initially — less than half the eventual 1.9% that all companies and employees each ultimately will be required to contribute by 2021.
Companies with 50 to 499 employees and their workers will begin contributions, also at less than half the rate in 2018, and employers with less than 50 employees will start at the reduced contribution rate in 2019.
ORPP will require workers to contribute 1.9% of annual pay up to a maximum of C$90,000 ($68,500) a year.
The ORPP will require approval from the provincial Legislature before being implemented.
Also on Tuesday, Ms. Wynne specified what constitutes a comparable retirement plan, stating that any employer offering a plan that replaces up to 15% of pre-retirement income would be exempt from ORPP participation.
The government did not release details on how the plan's investments would be managed or how the plan would be administered. The federal government has said it would not allow the ORPP to use the administrative infrastructure of the C$264.6 billion Canada Pension Plan, Ottawa — which the ORPP is intended to supplement.
Allan O'Dette, president and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, which has opposed the ORPP, called the details announced by Ms. Wynne Tuesday “a step in the right direction,” although he added, “We remain concerned that the ORPP in its current form will have a negative impact on business competitiveness.”
