Mr. Hansen fills in some of the blanks on the Campbell ten point plan

The Prince Rupert Chamber of Commerce was the host for Finance Minister Colin Hansen on Monday afternoon, as he spoke over the lunch hour about many of the provincial government’s initiatives, as outlined by the Premier last week.

Of particular interest to Chamber members would have been the small business pension plan which will provide pension options for employers and employees, who prior to last week most likely could not look forward to a pension plan of their own.

The Daily News featured the Finance Minister’s visit as their front page story in Tuesday’s paper.

MINISTER OUTLINES SMALL-BUSINESS PENSION PLAN
Finance Minister Colin Hansen in town to talk about provincial initiatives, hear ideas
By George T. Baker
The Daily News
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Pages one and three

Coming off last week's 10-point plan for the B.C. economy, Minister of Finance Colin Hansen was in Prince Rupert to inform local business people about the plight and might of the provincial economy.

One of the main points from his speech at the Prince Rupert and District Chamber of Commerce luncheon yesterday was the provincial government's plan for a multi-employer pension plan.

The plan is to provide a new pension option for small business employers and employees that would add to what Hansen calls "the two pillars of retirement savings," the Canadian Pension Plan and private investments.

Hansen is proposing a third pillar - a multi-employer plan, which he said most small business owners do not provide, and some cannot provide, this option on their own.

“This is really complex for a small company. So what we are proposing is a multi-employer, private sector pension plan. Government would spearhead it, set up and make sure the regulatory and framework was there, so that those pensions were properly protected,” said Hansen.

According to Hansen, the multi-employers plan means there are options available around how the small business pension plan will work.

“The options would be that you could wind up with an employer contribution on behalf of the employee. Or you could wind up with a mix of an employer contribution and an employee contribution. Or you could wind up with, if a worker was working with a company that didn’t opt-in to this plan, the employee could still contribute to his own pension plan even if the employer wasn’t officially a part of it,” said Hansen.

The last option would allow employees, if he or she changes jobs, to be able to build the pension benefits throughout their career, regardless of where the employee worked, so that it does not collapse when they leave.

Some Prince Rupert small business operators liked the idea initially and said they would love to see how it worked.

Newly-minted Rupert merchants Nancy Blom and Samantha Nault of Rubicon Designs said they liked the idea.

“Being self-employed you need to have a little bit of security otherwise (without the proposed pension plan) you wouldn’t have that,” said Blom.

Current Port Edward mayor Dave McDonald said that this plan could help the tiny business community in the district.

“I agree (with Hansen) with giving the businesses, who don’t have a pension plan, the option to start one,” said McDonald.

Community Futures general manager Knut Bjorndal said that small businesses in Prince Rupert have a hard time attracting employees in the $10-to-$20 range because larger firms, who pay the same wages, have access to pension benefits.

Rainforest Books owner Gordon Blumhagen said the pension plan could help some people who are capable of putting money aside.

“It looks like a government sponsored savings plan. There are a lot of small businesses that are still not going to buy in to it because they are too small to do so. It’s as simple as that,” said Blumhagen.