October 2025 – Posted on behalf of Blair Fisher, FPSE Pension Advisory Committee
Over the first weekend in October, I attended the Pension Advisory Committee meetings. At these meetings we had a few housekeeping issues to take care of as well as interesting discussions about pensions in Canada more generally. The more interesting points that I would like to highlight for our members.
We interviewed a short-list of candidates for the vacant Pension Trustee position and made a recommendation to Presidents Council for that appointment. We also heard a report from one of our current Pension Trustees, Morna Fraser. The pension is up for valuation in the Spring of 2027 (this is done every three years) and to date we are well over the return objective for this three-year period which is indicative of a healthy pension plan. They also discussed issues around divestment combined with their fiduciary responsibilities. Direct divestment has been done based on SRI principles but they are still looking at indirect links and acting if and when necessary. They then discussed the plan adjustments to member longevity. As we may, or may not be aware, our particular retiree group tends to have better health outcomes in retirement and therefore live significantly longer, on average than members of other pension plan groups. That is the good news 😊 The downside is needed adjustments to the plan to account for this overall longer lifespan for our members. Our plan is being proactive in this regard to ensure plan health for the future.
We also reviewed how to assess and review our current Trustees when their terms come up for renewal. This has been a haphazard approach in recent years and we made significant motions to ensure that this process is effective, consistent and useful moving forward with clear expectations of our Trustees in relation to their overall communication with members.
Other items discussed were how the Alberta Plan is doing after the government fired their public pension board and appointed people specifically mandated with investing within the province of Alberta. This is concerning as it interferes with the Plan’s fiscal responsibility towards its members in keeping the plan healthy. There have been some significant investments made that are concerning to those within the public pension world. We are watching this development carefully.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns regarding the content of this report, the activities of PAC or, about the general health of our Pension Plan.
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