More than 4,000 of Canada's 11,000 DB plans under Ontario regulation
Ontario employers will have an extra five years to meet their pension funding obligations, according to an announcement by the province's Minister of Finance.
The move follows an announcement from Ottawa last month that the government was giving all federally regulated employers 10 years, instead of five, to cover any shortfalls in their pension plans.
Ontario regulates 4,100 of the 11,000 defined benefit pension plans in Canada, but Finance Minister Dwight Duncan's office doesn't know how many of those are currently underfunded.
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions said more than two-thirds of federally regulated pension plans were underfunded as of last June.
Since then, stock markets have posted huge losses, which means pension plan deficits have likely grown.
Ontario will also defer catch-up payments to give companies one year of cash flow relief, and is taking several other steps such as permitting the use of actuarial gains to reduce annual cash payments by plan sponsors.
