Eight in Ten (81%) Want the Government to Consult with Public on CPP Expansion Plans

Toronto, ON - Four in five (81%) employed or retired Canadians `agree' (45% strongly/ 36% somewhat) the federal and provincial governments should consult the public on CPP expansion, according to a new Ipsos survey conducted on behalf of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. Federal and provincial finance ministers (excluding those in Quebec and British Columbia) recently signed a deal to expand the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) starting in 2019. Meanwhile, the Government of British Columbia is currently consulting the public in that province prior to finalizing support for the CPP expansion deal, and the Quebec government will be holding public consultations on changes to the QPP in the coming months.

Lack of Knowledge about CPP Expansion Prevails

When Canadians' knowledge of the planned CPP expansion was put to the test, the most common answer in most cases was simply "I don't know":

• Six in ten (58%) Canadians do not know that it will take 40 years before the full increase in benefits will be available, while one in four (26%) correctly say it's true and a further 16% say false.
• Four in ten (45%) Canadians don't know if current retirees will see benefit increases from a CPP (QPP in Quebec) expansion. Three in ten (29%) correctly say that they won't see any benefit increases, while one in four (26%) mistakenly think that they will. Nearly three in ten (27%) retirees believe their benefits will increase.
• Two in five (39%) think that the federal government pays for part of the CPP; only one in four (26%) recognize that this is false, and one in three (35%) do not know the answer at all.

If CPP/QPP Reforms Mean Businesses Freeze or Cut Wages, Employees Oppose Reforms

It seems that working Canadians are unwilling to support changes to the CPP/QPP if it has the possible consequence of freezing their salaries or wages over a seven-year period as a result of their employer attempting to cope with higher premiums.

Four in five (83%) employed Canadians oppose (68% strongly/15% somewhat) expanding the CPP (QPP in Quebec) if it would mean that their employer would cut their wages or salary over a seven-year period to help them cover the increased premiums. This leaves just 8% who would still support (2% strongly/6% somewhat) the CPP expansion under these circumstances, and 9% who don't know.

Meanwhile, seven in ten (71%) employed Canadians say they would oppose (48% strongly/22% somewhat) the CPP (QPP in Quebec) expansion if their employer had to freeze their wages/salary in order to cover the increase premiums, leaving 19% who would still support it (5% strongly/14% somewhat) and 10% who don't know.

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between August 25 and August 29, 2016, on behalf of Canadian Federation of Independent Business. For this survey, a sample of 2,003 employed (excluding self-employed) or retired Canadians from Ipsos' online panel was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/ - 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all employed (excluding self-employed) or retired Canadian adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Sean Simpson
Vice President
Ipsos Public Affairs
416.572.4474
[email protected]

About Ipsos

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