We are disappointed with the Supreme Court of Canada's judgment today. The Supreme Court recognized that public service plan members made a significant contribution – 42.2 per cent or almost $12 billion – in paying down the national debt for all Canadians when the government appropriated the pension plan surplus.
We took this case to the Supreme Court on behalf of our members because we believed the government did not have the right to just appropriate the surplus in the pension plan. Our members' contributions helped create that surplus which should have been kept in the plan to provide future pension benefits.
This fight was about ensuring retirement security. PSAC will continue to work for retirement security for all Canadians.
The Supreme Court also said that the government has been misleading its employees when it described the pension plan as having assets in official communications with them.
The Court ruled that the very real contributions made by our members from their paycheques were not considered assets. This allowed the government to take and use the surplus.