Provincial Finance Minister Blaine Higgs got a hostile reception with retiree Glen Wilson starting off by accusing the government of trying to take away their pensions.
Pension consultant Conrad Ferguson has told provincial retirees more pension money is being paid out than is coming in and that spread will grow. He warns change is inevitable because with low interest rates, the return on investment will be low and without the shared risk model being adopted, the provincial plan deficit could double.
Ferguson told the retirees, survivor benefits will not change but indexing will not be automatic. It will depend on how well the pension plan performs with its investments.
