VANCOUVER -
Provincial finance ministers met Friday to discuss a looming Canadian pension crisis, an issue B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen says political leaders must address.
Ministers from B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia gathered in Vancouver, while the ministers from PEI and Saskatchewan took part by phone.
Hansen says there is clear consensus among ministers that a pension system for Canadians who don't have one must be established quickly to meet the needs of an aging population.
He says the ministers talked over several suggestions.
They included a pan-Canadian plan that could fill the gap for the 78 per cent of people who don't have access to a registered pension plan.
Hansen suggests the plan could be a national program launched by government, but once operational, would be run independently by trustees.
Seniors now have Old Age Security, Canada Pension Plan, the guaranteed income supplement, RRSPs and the new tax-free savings account.
But Hansen said those aren't enough to address the social needs of the so-called seniors' tsunami that's looming in the next few decades
