It was one of the most divisive issues of the recent federal election campaign. It was the stubborn stinginess of the miserly Stephen Harper to deny more money for an expanded Canada Pension Plan so that Ontario, in its own judgment, would not have to start a provincial plan. If only the Liberals were in power in Ottawa. The Premier was glad to say there would be no need for an Ontario Plan, much feared by employers as just another tax on business, if only Mr. Trudeau were in power. Today however, Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa had to say that it has so far proven too difficult to get the necessary agreement required among Canada’s provinces to expand the CPP. “We advocated strongly for a CPP enhancement, as did the federal government, but the consensus was not to be had,” Sousa told reporters. Thus, during a news conference in a coffee shop, Ms. Wynne and ministers Mr. Sousa and the Associate Minister of Finance (and political boss of Scarborough) Mitzi Hunter announced that the ORPP is plunging forward even though they weren’t able to say how much it will cost. But in echoes of notorious pensions that legislated Greece into a basket case, the ORPP will provide payouts to survivors, perhaps a daughter or son, when the pensioner dies. More here