Despite loud and growing objections, the New Brunswick government is pushing ahead with pension reform.
On Tuesday, New Brunswick Finance Minister Blaine Higgs tabled pension reform legislation that will bring about 30,000 current and former public service employees under a new shared-risk model for their pensions.
Higgs says the bill would see contributions from both the employer and employees rise in an effort to address a $1-billion deficit.
“We not only have a right to do this, we have an obligation to do it because if we don’t, the plan is in trouble,” says Higgs.
He says, of the almost 30,000 public servants - which doesn’t include teachers - more than 20,000 are now behind the shift.
“(New Brunswick Union) are part of that, the electrical workers are part of that so, all told, we have 70 per cent of the total (PublicService Superannuation Act) group, roughly two-thirds that are endorsing this change,” says Higgs.
However, some public sector unions remain at odds with the reforms. CUPE New Brunswick says it is still considering challenging the changes in court.
“The other thing we’re going to look at is the possibility of getting this reversed,” says Danny Legere of CUPE New Brunswick. “I’m not sure how we would have that done, whether other parties would entertain that, but that’s certainly an avenue we’ll be exploring for our members in the PSSA.”
“It’s not a good day for the future of the civil service because it’s going to be extremely hard to attract high, well-calibered talent into this province and to keep them here because they are not going to be willing to come with what this is,” says Bonny Hoyt-Hallett of the New Brunswick Pension Coalition.
The Oppositional Liberals wonder how far the reforms will reach, saying they have heard the target could soon shift to the teachers’ plan.
As for MLAs, the legislation that would move their pensions to the new shared-risk model wasn’t tabled on Tuesday, and may not be until next spring.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Andy Campbell and The Canadian Press
