We often get asked why we calculate politician’s lifetime pensions to age 90. Before we used that age estimate we did the calculation to age 75 and later to age 80. We used those ages because they were around the average life expectancy in Canada. Then in 2012 we found out that Member’s of Parliament were living much longer than that.  

Testifying to the Senate Committee Jean-Claude Ménard the Chief Actuary for the MP pension plan said: “On average, members enter the plan at age 50, they leave the plan at age 60 and, on average, and they die at age 90.” October 30, 2012.

That sounds clear but in truth the age 90 estimate includes a consideration of the value of the survivor's benefit. Ménard explained at committee: “The actuarial report of the Canada Pension Plan shows life expectancy. It indicates that a 65-year-old Canadian man can currently hope to live to the age of 84, while a woman's life expectancy is 86. In 30 or 40 years, people that age will probably live 3 or 4 years longer. When I say 90 years, I am also taking the value of the survivor benefit into account because, when a member dies, if he or she leaves a survivor, 60 per cent of the pension must still be paid.”

Senators were surprised to hear that the Chief Actuary expected them to live that long. First one Senator asked if he meant Members of Parliament. He clarified that it was the estimate he used for both Senators and MPs. Ménard also explained about increasing life expectancy in Canada and the growing number of Canadians 90 years of age or older.

The most recent actuarial report for the pension published in 2014 used the following life expectancy estimates (they don’t account for the survivor benefit):