Fear is robbing Canadians of secure retirements. This simple CPP/QPP tweak can change that

opinion

A hidden retirement crisis is unfolding in Canada.

For decades, the focus has rightly been on low-income older Canadians. But the next wave of retirees – what I call the Vulnerable Massive Middle – are quietly heading toward a different kind of insecurity.

They’ve worked hard, saved some, but lack the guaranteed workplace pensions their parents once enjoyed. They’re exposed – and they don’t even know it.

More than 60 per cent of Canadian workers have no workplace pension. In the private sector, 90 per cent lack the gold-standard defined-benefit plans that once ensured stable income for life.

As a result, millions are heading into longer retirements with fewer family supports, rising health and long-term-care costs, and no secure lifetime income beyond the CPP, QPP and OAS.