Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- pogge points out the Cons' suppression of news that a lack of running water on First Nations reserves facilitated the spread of H1N1 - offering a case in point as to both how neglect of social needs can carry widespread ramifications, and how little interest the Cons have in improving matters. But the story looks like another prime example as to how we could and should be doing better for people facing third-world conditions in our midst - as Dan Gardner rightly points out.

- Of course the Harper Cons' end-of-session spin is that their ramming through tons of legislation without meaningful review or debate somehow represents a positive change from having to pay attention to any factor other than their own partisan ends. But John Ivison, Jeffrey Simpson and Chris Selley all write from a common theme that the Cons' determination to shut down democratic discussion is the real story of this fall - and a sad testament to the state of Canadian politics under Harper.

- Ken Georgetti comments on the need for CPP reform rather than yet another set of "retirement security" plans which do nothing for anybody without tens of thousands of spare dollars to sock away - and a high tolerance for having their retirement fund siphoned off by the financial sector:

People can be forgiven for steering clear of the retirement savings industry. Market meltdowns have decimated portfolios no fewer than five times in the last two decades. Industry management fees and expenses are also a serious turnoff.

A Morningstar study published this year gives the Canadian mutual fund industry an F for having the highest fees among the 22 countries surveyed.

With a median total expense ratio of 2.31 per cent for an equity fund, Canadian investors can expect to lose more than half of their investment account balance to fees by the time they retire.
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Fortunately, we have a pension plan that delivers secure, predictable retirement benefits at low-cost. Virtually all employed and self-employed Canadians already contribute to the CPP, which is fully portable and provides an inflation indexed lifetime retirement benefit to millions of retirees.

The CPP enjoys low costs on account of its large scale, efficient administration and professional governance, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board oversees a diversified and professionally managed fund on behalf of the plan. Benefits are paid for by contributions and investment income, not government tax revenues.

But CPP benefits were intentionally limited from the beginning to replace just 25 per cent of average pensionable earnings - ironically, to leave room for workplace pensions that employers are now deserting in droves. We could double future CPP benefits for today's young workers through a modest, phased-in increase in contributions over time. Those pundits who claim this would discourage hiring should remember that the CPP contribution rate rose fully 65 per cent between 1997 and 2003, when the unemployment rate fell to 7.6 per cent from 9.1 per cent.
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We've got to get moving and improve the best features of the system we have - the CPP. That's what the finance ministers should commit to in Victoria.

- Finally, Skinny Dipper has set up a fully-ranked poll for the NDP's leadership campaign. I'd see the first-ballot numbers as more likely to indicate a focus on this particular poll rather than actual candidate strength, but the results look to be instructive as to where support turns on subsequent ballots. (And so far, Peggy Nash looks to be doing rather well on both fronts.)