2009-04-30
07:44:37
As the union representing AbitibiBowater workers asked a court judge today to deny the company from stopping pension payments for workers, criticism was also being levelled against the provincial government.
Opposition members say the government is trying pass its obligations toward the Ontario Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund, set up to pay pensioners in the event of a bankruptcy, to the federal government.
N-D-P member Paul Miller told the legislature workers should be able to count on their pensions being safe.
"People who work hard all their lives defer their earnings to a pension plan," says Miller. "The least they should expect is that when it comes to the end of their working days, they can count on the retirement income that they put away over decades. And yet, unbelievably, we apparently have a company called AbitibiBowater going to court to suspend pension payments towards its unfunded liabilities for workers. We have a government that is trying to deflect the blame to the federal government when in fact, Minister, the majority of the responsibility falls on your shoulders."
Finance Minister Dwight Duncan says the province has been working with companies to ensure the security of those pensions.
