Last Mountain Times June 18 2018

4 Monday, June 18, 2018 • Last Mountain Times
CPP’s perpetual
head start
Private pensions face regulatory burdens that the Canada
Pension Plan does not
In 2016, in fulfillment of a campaign promise, the federal
government reached an agreement with the provinces to
expand the Canada Pension Plan. Consequently, mandatory
CPP contributions from working Canadians will increase
steadily between January 2019 and 2025.
Expansion proponents have used many faulty claims to
justify the changes, including the claim that CPP is a lower
cost pension due to its greater efficiency. They argue that
CPP’s large assets allow plan administrators to keep costs of
running the plan down, relative to other pensions.
But that argument ignores a key reason why CPP may be
able to keep costs comparatively low. CPP is exempt from
many of the regulations and rules governing private pension
plans in Canada. These regulations can increase the
transparency and accountability of private plans, but also
inevitably increase costs for plan administrators. By avoiding
the regulations, CPP avoids these additional costs. That’s not
necessarily a good thing for Canadians because it means less
transparency and accountability.
In addition, CPP’s makeup and offerings to beneficiaries
are quite rigid compared to private plans, which tend to
offer more options and flexibility. This flexibility comes at an
additional cost. The lax regulatory burden and vanilla nature
of CPP give it an artificial cost advantage over other pensions
and individual registered accounts such as registered retirement
savings plans (RRSPs) and tax-free savings accounts
(TFSAs).
Consider some examples of how the regulations governing
CPP differ from other pensions.
Private plans are subject to more disclosure and customer-related
regulations. For instance, they must provide
regular financial statements to clients and comply with anti-money
laundering laws - sometimes known as “know your
customer” laws. CPP does not.
Because CPP is a federally-constituted entity, it’s not
subject to any provincial regulations. Nor is it subject to the
jurisdiction of any regulations by industry organizations.
Private plans, depending on the province, incur filing and
administrative fees from constantly filing reports with their
provincial pension superintendent.
Further, there are almost no laws allowing for CPP to be
CONTINUES on PAGE 6
EDITORIALS, LETTERS & OPINIONS
Racial tension on the
decline, harmony on the rise
Across North America, the statistics clearly show that
multiculturalism is a growing fact, right down to the family unit
We’re often told that
Canada and the U.S.
are racist societies.
But amidst all the demands
from minority advocates and
hand-wringing among ‘social
justice’ champions, the reality
is quite different.
In fact, in Canada and the
United States, racial intolerance
has declined remarkably.
There are clear indications
in recent Canadian surveys
of substantial racial tolerance
and acceptance.
For example, in a survey
on immigration, there has
been a turn in public opinion
between 2005 and 2015
against too much immigration.
While in 2015, 46 per cent of
Canadians said there was too
much immigration, only 41
per cent said that there were
too many visible minorities
immigrating. Canadians were
less concerned about visible
minorities immigrating than
about the level of immigration
generally.
And this was also true for
all surveys between 1995 and
2015. In another survey, respondents
were asked: “Visible
minorities now comprise 16
per cent of Canada’s population.
How would you characterize
that proportion?” Only
nine per cent of respondents
said the proportion was too
large. An absolute majority of
respondents in this Canadian
survey said it “Doesn’t matter”
what percentage of Canadians
are visible minorities.
In the U.S., whites’ attitudes
about blacks have changed
markedly over the decades. In
1940, only 31 per cent of Americans
approved of whites going
to school with blacks. By 1995,
the proportion who approved
was 96 per cent.
Similarily, American whites’
attitude toward intermarriage
with blacks went from four per
cent approval in 1958 to 86 per
cent approval in 2007.
Further surveys show that
whites’ attitudes toward blacks
have moved strongly toward
tolerance and acceptance.
At the same time, Americans
reject racial preferences and
affirmative action, and blacks’
support for affirmative action
has plummeted.
How does the decline of
prejudice and discrimination,
and the increase in tolerance
and acceptance manifest in
people’s lives? Let’s consider
acceptance in the most intimate
of relationships, through
mixed race marriages.
In Canada, many visible
minorities marry in mixed
unions. Japanese-Canadians
marry outside their group
78.7 per cent of the time.
Individuals with ancestry in
two or more visible minority
groups marry outside their
category 64.9 per cent of the
time. Members of smaller
groups of visible minorities
marry outside 52.4 per cent
of the time. Canadians with
Latin American backgrounds
marry out 48.2 per cent of the
time. Black Canadians marry
non-blacks 40.2 per cent of the
time. Filipino Canadians, Arab
Canadians, Korean Canadians
and Southeast Asian Canadians
marry out in the 20 per
cent range, with West Asian
Canadians and Chinese Canadians
just below. South Asian
Canadians marry out 13 per
cent of the time.
The relatively low level of
outside marriage among Chinese
and South Asian Canadians
is probably influenced
by two factors, one cultural
and the other demographic.
Chinese and South Asian
cultures emphasize extended,
multi-generational families
and arranged marriages. The
demographic factor is that Chinese
and South Asian Canadians
are the two largest cultural
groups among Canadian visible
minorities, the former having
351,640 married couples,
the latter 407,510 married
couples. In-marriage reflects
that these groups densely populate
some locations, limiting
access to outsiders, and that
there’s a wide range of choice
within each group for selecting
marriage partners.
In 1991, 2.6 per cent of all
Canadian marriages were
mixed; in 2001, 3.1 per cent
were mixed; and in 2011, 4.6
per cent were mixed. The
demographic factor here would
be that there are many more
Canadians who aren’t members
of a visible minority than
members of visible minorities.
In the United States, interracial
marriages have increased
substantially. In 1967, three
per cent of all marriages were
interracial. By 2015, 17 per
cent of all marriages were
interracial.
The increased attitudinal racial
tolerance and acceptance
in recent decades is manifested
in the major increase in
interracial marriages.
As anthropologist Lisa
Edelsward has suggested, the
apparent increase in racial
conflict may well be a result of
the increased equality of the
races and the jockeying for influence.
The conflict is difficult
to deal with but the increased
equality brings us closer to fulfilling
our ideals.
Even with the apparent
increase in conflict encouraged
by a small numbers of activists,
we should not lose sight
of the mostly positive race
relations we have in North
America.
-Philip Carl Salzman is professor
of anthropology at McGill
University. www.troymedia.com
Disclaimer: opinions expressed
are those of the writer