Teachers' responds positively to Ontario Government efforts to modernize pension legislation

TORONTO - The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (Teachers') today stated that the Ontario Government's recent announcement to modernize the province's pension legislation is an important step in recognizing the unique governance of jointly sponsored pension plans such as Teachers', where the employer and the member are jointly responsible for pension funding.

The reforms that will be introduced this fall will recognize jointly sponsored pension plans' material differences, such as joint governance and risk sharing. "Short-term solvency valuations, which focus on the contingency of wind-up, are inappropriate for plans such as Teachers' . One size does not fit all when it comes to pension funding. In recognizing this, the government will save our members from unnecessary contribution ups and downs brought about by solvency rules that are not sensibly applied to jointly sponsored plans. As contributions are matched by the Ontario government, this represents a saving for taxpayers as a whole," said Jim Leech, Teachers' President and CEO.

"We also are encouraged by the government's indication that it will continue to review the 30% rule, which adds unnecessary costs, misaligns good governance and is outdated," added Mr. Leech. (The 30% limit refers to a pension fund's investment in the securities of a corporation to which are attached the right to vote to elect directors.)

With $96.4 billion in assets as of December 31, 2009, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is the largest single-profession pension plan in Canada. An independent organization, it invests the pension fund's assets and administers the pensions of 289,000 active and retired teachers in Ontario. For more information visit www.otpp.com.

Contact:

Deborah Allan
Director, Communications and Media Relations
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
(416) 730-5347
deborah_allan@otpp.com