Raising benefits for military, RCMP families would add $6B liability: PBO
OTTAWA — A new analysis says an NDP proposal to boost pension benefits for families of deceased Canadian Forces and RCMP veterans could hurt Ottawa’s bottom line by more than $6 billion.
The NDP private member’s bill calls for raising retirement benefit payments to surviving spouses and children to 70 per cent of a contributor’s annual allowance from the current level of 50 per cent.
The federal budget watchdog estimates such a change could create an additional pension liability of nearly $6.4 billion for the government.
The budget office says that Treasury Board policy indicates the entire liability would hit Ottawa’s books, net of any surplus in the account — all in the year the change is approved.