Plan Changes

The McGill University Pension Plan was designed in 1972 and, for all intents and purposes, hasn’t changed for 40 years – but the world has. Markets have been on a downswing for the last 12 years and pension plans, in particular, have been hit hard at organizations all across Canada. Rates of return on investments have plummeted. Interest rates are at an all-time low. People are also living longer – great news for us, but bad news for pension plans. This double whammy means that McGill, like so many other organizations, needs to make changes. 

As announced in July 2011, these changes—detailed in full in Amendment No. 24—will begin to take effect on January 1, 2013. McGill has two different segments to its pension plan, and the challenges facing the two segments are somewhat different. We invite you to consult one of the following pages to find out more about what this all means for you: 

• Information for employees hired before January 1, 2009
• Information for employees hired on, and after, January 1, 2009

Interested in learning how pension deficits are calculated? Please refer to Calculating Pension Plan Deficits for a guide to the process. 

Related articles

• Universities face 'staggering' pension fund losses
  University Affairs, May 11, 2009
• Universities facing service cuts to climb out of 'pension abyss'
  Globe and Mail, Nov. 28, 2010
• Pension plans suffering after market turmoil
  Globe and Mail, August 17, 2011
• Pension crisis? Brace yourself — the worst is yet to come: study
  Toronto Star, March 1, 2012