Premier Kathleen Wynne and Finance Minister Charles Sousa are expected to detail a plan at 9:30 this morning to phase in the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan over 2 years once its implemented in 2017. A report says only large businesses would pay into it initially, then medium business the year after, and small businesses in 2019.

Meantime, there is a recommendation for the governing Liberals to implement the model used in Australia.  Fraser Institute study author Charles Lammam says Australia’s individual retirement saving accounts, which more closely resemble Canada’s RRSPs, offer more choice and flexibility than the collective CPP. He says they offer Australians a choice on how to invest the money in their retirement accounts, which are fueled by mandatory employer contributions.

At the same time, there is a dire warning about the coming Made in Ontario pension plan.

“To create a brand new separate bureaucracy to collect taxes on behalf of Ontarians, and then save them for forty years for retirement, we think is just crazy,” says Canadian Federation of Independent Business President Dan Kelly to the CBC.

Federal Conservative leader, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in agreement.  He has turned the Ontario pension plan into a federal election issue, calling it a “Justin Trudeau-Kathleen Wynne” tax hike.

Listen for comprehensive coverage of the latest developments with the Made in Ontario pension plan on Zoomer Radio’s Goldhawk Fights Back after the 11am news.