impACT 2011  

From Family Law to Funding – Key Concerns for Plan Sponsors in Ontario
Thursday, November 24th, 2011 ▪  7:30am – 1:45pm
St Andrews Conference Centre
150 King Street West, 27th Floor, St Andrew’s Hall
Toronto, ON

In this half-day seminar, the Ontario Regional Council brings together experts who will share:

• Best practices for defined benefit and defined contribution plan administrators when dealing with the new rules for pensions on marriage breakdown;
• Actions plan sponsors and administrators should consider in what appears to be another perfect storm affecting pension plan funding; and
• Recent survey results on member attitudes toward pensions and retirement and how this might impact pension design and administration of defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans.

Registration and Networking Breakfast start at 7:30 am

Sessions include:

• ACPM Update: The Year in Review
• Family Law - New Rules for Pensions
• Pension Plan Funding – Are we having fun yet?
• Plan Member Perspectives -- What Do Your Employees Think?" 

Featured speakers:

• Paul Litner, Chair, National Policy Committee, ACPM
• Ian Edelist, Principal , Eckler
• Anne Slivinskas, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
• Andrew Hamilton, Aon Hewitt
• Ian Markham, Towers Watson

Full Program

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British Columbia Regional Council

PRPP and the CPP –  The Debate Continues

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 ▪ 11:30 am – 1:30 pm
Fairmont Pacific Rim
1038 Canada Place
Vancouver, British Columbia

In December 2010, the provincial finance ministers agreed to the federal proposal to proceed with the implementation of Pooled Registered Pension Plans (“PRPPs”) as a means of enhancing the retirement income system for Canadians, putting the expansion or add-on to the Canada Pension Plan on the back burner.  Consequently, most of the discussion since then has been about implementing PRPPs to achieve this objective.

But the debate isn’t over yet, and proponents of enhancing the Canada Pension Plan have continued to make their views known.  The Association of Canadian Pension Management is adding to the discussion by hosting a lunch hour session on November 2, 2011 with two well known and respected speakers on these topics.  

Frank Swedlove of the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association will speak on the proposal for PRPPs, and Rhys Kesselman of the School of Public Policy of Simon Fraser University will speak on enhancing the Canada Pension Plan.

Please join us for a stimulating discussion on enhancing Canada’s retirement income system:

Agenda  11:30 am – Registration
              11:45 am – Buffet Lunch
              12:00 noon – Introductions and Presentations

Moderator: Kathy Leavens, Chair, ACPM British Columbia Regional Council
 
Speakers:
  Frank Swedlove, President, Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association
  Rhys Kesselman, Professor, School of Public Policy of Simon Fraser University

Full Program

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Alberta Regional Council

UNFINISHED BUSINESS –
The slow moving trend from DB to DC
Why are so many companies left with the worst of both worlds?
Friday- June 24th, 2011
7:30-9:30 am

Bankers Hall Auditorium
315 – 8th Avenue S.W., Calgary


The move away from defined benefit pensions and towards defined contribution plans began in earnest in the early 1990s.  Expanding costs, tax reform, legal risks and heightened regulatory oversight all led to a near consensus that private industry could and should not be burdening itself with defined benefit pension obligations.

After a brief summer of pension surpluses a decade ago slowed the trend, a renewed funding crisis compounded with accounting reforms and tighter actuarial standards reignited it.  But why now, almost a generation after the trend began, are so many companies still at a transitional stage - supporting both defined benefit and defined contribution plans at the same time?
This session brings together an actuarial and legal perspective on the heightened governance, financial and litigation challenges challenges facing companies that run both DB and DC plans simultaneously while still only at the midpoint of the trend away from DB.   The worst of both worlds - was it really supposed to be like this?
 
Join us for this thought provoking session and great networking opportunity!

Agenda:
7:30 am – 8:00 am: Continental Breakfast & Registration/Networking
8:05 pm – 8:10 am: Foreword
8:10am – 9:15 am: Presentation by:
                              Ken Burns, Lawson Lundell LLP
                              Rob Vandersanden, Aon Hewitt

9:15 am - 9:30am: Q & A

Full Program

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April 26, 2011, 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
St. Andrew’s Club & Conference Centre
150 King Street West, 27th Floor
Toronto, ON

Pension reform has left many wondering if they are doing all they should be in the wake of new regulations and offerings.

Come hear from Malcolm Hamilton  and other actuarial, tax and legal experts, address a roadmap for pension design changes, the future of pension products, and HST in pension plans..

Sessions include:

• ACPM Update: Advocacy and Government Relations Committee (AGRC)
• Pensions in an Uncertain World
• HST and the Implications for Ontario Plan Sponsors

Featured speakers:

• Mitch Frazer, Chair AGRC, ACPM
• Peggy McCallum, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
• Malcolm Hamilton, Mercer (Canada) Limited
• Brian Wurts, PwC
• Adam O'Connor,  PwC

Full Program

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British Columbia Regional Council

Recent Developments in Pension Plan Law and ACPM Advocacy Initiatives

March 9th, 2011
Fairmont Waterfront Vancouver
900 Canada Place Way
Vancouver, BC

These are eventful times for Canada's pension plans and their stakeholders.  Join the ACPM's British Columbia Regional Council, together with guest presenters Christopher Brown and Deron Waldock and moderator Ken Burns for an hour of discussion and debate on the latest developments in Canadian pension legislative reform and case law.

Chris and Deron will give their perspectives on developments, including new pension legislation in Ottawa and Ontario, and will also comment on the new Pooled Registered Pension Plan proposal from Ottawa.  Chris Brown is the President of the ACPM, and in that capacity is the primary spokesperson for the ACPM to government and media on pension reform matters.  Deron practices pension and benefits law in Ontario and has been active in formulating and presenting the Ontario Bar Association's response to pension legislative reform initiatives there.

The moderator for this meeting, Ken Burns, a lawyer practicing pension and benefits law in Vancouver, will interact with the speakers with the aim of fleshing out their perspectives and predictions for how the legal and legislative initiatives elsewhere in Canada might impact the content of anticipated legislative and regulatory changes to pension standards in British Columbia and Alberta.  

Speakers:
Christopher Brown, President, ACPM; Managing Partner, Spectrum HR Law (Calgary)
Deron Waldock, Partner, Blake, Cassel & Graydon LLP

Moderator:
Ken Burns, Partner, Lawson Lundell LLP

Agenda:
11:45 am : Registration
12:10 pm : Lunch & Session

Full Program

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Alberta Regional Council

HST and Pension Plans - Implications for Alberta Plan Sponsors

February 14, 2011
Sun Life Financial Conference Centre, 140-4th Avenue SW,+15 Level, Calgary, Alberta
7:30am - 9:30 am

Plan to join us on Monday, February 14th at this session presented by the ACPM Alberta Regional Council. Speakers from the Calgary office of KPMG will address the application of HST in relation to pension plans and implications for Alberta Plan Sponsors.

In this session the discussion will focus on the practical implications for pension plan sponsors a year after HST implementation, and the application of these rules to defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans (e.g., deemed supply to pension plans; rebates; selected listed financial institutions rules).

The discussion will also touch on the implications for pension plan sponsors in Alberta (i.e., a non-HST province) that have plan members in Alberta only, and those with plan members in other provinces, including HST provinces.

The emphasis of the presentation will be on what plan sponsors should be thinking about/working on given the recent changes related to HST.

Speakers:
Erin Jensen, CA, CPA (Illnois), Associate Partner, Indirect Tax, KPMG
Scott McDougall, B.Comm, LL.B, LLM, Senior Manager, Indirect Tax, KPMG

Full Program