Ottawa and the provinces have agreed to continue working on a plan that would see a modest increase in Canadian Pension Plan benefits.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said after the end of meetings in Prince Edward Island Monday the majority of provinces are in favour of the plan.
He said a "couple" of provinces are against the proposed reforms but he did not identify them.
"We were not unanimous, but certainly the substantive majority view is that we should proceed," Flaherty told reporters at a resort where the meeting took place. "Now there's a lot of work to be done. You know, what does modest mean? How do we go about doing this?"
The ministers are expected to report back to Flaherty this fall, after examining details of the plan. Flaherty said each province will decide whether to adopt it.
Alberta has argued that it is not the time to raise the CPP benefit because of the current economic climate. Ontario has supported pension reform, proposing that financial institutions play a larger role in retirement savings.
The support of seven out of 10 provinces is needed in order to increase benefits.
Various economists have said the average person today will be less well off in retirement than those who are already retired.
And so Flaherty is proposing a modest increase to CPP payroll premiums that would be phased in over time.
TD Bank deputy chief economist Craig Alexander said that based on today's average CPP retirement benefit of $502, a ten per cent increase in premiums would result in a $550 benefit, while a 20 per cent bump would lead to a $600 benefit.
Alexander said the payments would be indexed to inflation, so down the road payments, and benefits, would be higher, which means some workers will feel pinched.
"But at the end of the day, the reason the government is doing this is to encourage people to save more and what we can see from the statistics is that Canadians aren't saving enough," Alexander told Â鶹´«Ã½.
Labour groups have been urging the finance ministers to agree to increase CPP benefits, and the meeting drew about 125 demonstrators to the beach resort where the ministers gathered.
Shelly Ward, president of the P.E.I. union of public sector employees, said many Islanders work in seasonal jobs, and a lot of people can't retire comfortably.
Canadian Labour Congress president Ken Georgetti has travelled to the Island to lobby to increase premiums enough to double benefits.
"Because of the efficiency of CPP, we'd only have to increase the contribution by 60 per cent to get a doubling effect on your benefits," he told CTV Atlantic. "For someone earning $30,000 a year, which is $15 an hour, it would amount to six cents an hour as the premium increase, which is a cafe latte a week."
Flaherty has argued such an increase would hurt the economy.
He said his approach to CPP is to "do no harm."
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, a major lobby group, opposes increasing CPP premiums.
Alexander predicted it could be November or December before Canadians get a better idea about exactly what the government is proposing and how its negotiations with the provinces are proceeding.
