The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) and Fair Pensions for All blew the whistle today on two more pension plans in news the Saskatchewan that are in trouble; the Teachers’ Superannuation Pension plan and the Saskatchewan Healthcare Employees Pension Plan (SHEPP.)

New information shows taxpayers will now have to cover $5.2 billion in unfunded liabilities in the Teachers’ plan; up from $4 billion in 2010. The Healthcare employees plan now has $741 million in unfunded liabilities; up from $623 million.

Incredibly, had the expensive, unsustainable defined-benefit teachers’ plan not stopped accepting new members back in 1979, the problem would likely be even worse. The CTF continues to call on governments to stop adding new employees to unsustainable defined-benefit plans and start putting them in less costly plans.

“If the average Joe out there knew just how generous some of these government employee pension plans are there would be protests in the streets,” said CTF Prairie Director Colin Craig. “It is ludicrous for governments to think they can keep adding employees to expensive pension plans when so many taxpayers have nothing at all. New employees should be put in less costly plans.”

Saskatchewan’s Troubled Pension Plans

“In 1978, roughly when the teachers’ plan closed, the life expectancy was 71 years,” said Bill Tufts, founder of Fair Pensions for All. “Today, life expectancy is about 85. Clearly, the current generation of workers is going to live longer so you can see why defined-benefit plans haven’t saved up enough money. This is one the big problems with defined-benefit plans, they’re very hard to forecast.”

To help people understand just how expensive government employee plans can be for the taxpayer, the CTF released this YouTube clip to explain the situation – click here.