Let's End Mandatory Work After 65

Ontario is planning to end mandatory retirement at age 65. Ontario will then join Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec and New Brunswick as provinces that have ended this practice.

Most people I know want to retire as soon as they can afford to do so. They have worked hard in one occupation and look forward to a chance to do something different. Some want to paint or play or volunteer or travel. Some want to work at different jobs on a part-time basis. There are two kinds of people who want to keep working after 65. The first type are those people whose identity is tied up in what they do. They may be lawyers or ministers or doctors or farmers who think that what they do is who they are. For them, if they stop doing, they stop being and no one should be able to force them to end their identity and existence.

The second type of person is the person who can’t afford to stop working. They don’t have enough money. They may be clerks or small business people, homemakers or farmers. In the 1960s when the Canada Pension Plan was created, our society was greatly concerned with poverty among the elderly. Our response was to create the CPP as a universal plan. It was thought to provide one leg of a three legged stool for all seniors. The other legs were supposed to be private savings and employer pension plans. Poverty among the elderly has been greatly reduced since 1966 but our three legged stool is still very wobbly. One of the legs is less than half built. Only 40 % of working Canadians participate in a company pension plan. The other 60% will only have the CPP, Old Age Security and whatever they’ve been able to save for their retirement – typically not much more than the value of their house. This is an issue that affects women particularly because they tend to spend fewer years in the paid work force but live longer than men after 65. I know many social workers (mostly women), who have dedicated their lives to improving society and who will retire with next to no company pension. In England the government is considering a new law that would require all employers to enroll their workers in some form of pension plan.

One of the best examples of what life looks like when there are inadequate pensions can be found on Canadian farms. 20% of all Canadian farms are being run by farmers over the age of 65 with annual net farm income of less than $16,000. Many of these would happily hand over the operation to a new generation if they could afford to do so. Demanding an end to mandatory retirement provides only half a solution because it only describes half the problem. Canadians need adequate pensions if they are going to have any real choice about when to retire. People need support in order to be free.

First Published in July 2005