Wolfson -Indexing Public Pensions -underlying principles (currently ignored since 1983 study)

From
How to achieve an inter-generationally fair public pension system
Posted on Tue, Mar 6, 2012, 5:06 am by Michael Wolfson
http://www.ipolitics.ca/2012/03/06/michael-wolfson-generational-fairness-and-old-age-security/

The metaphor that clinched the Committee’s agreement was that of a 19th century rural extended family. All members agreed that in “fat years,” when harvests were abundant, everyone should share in the bounty, including those around the table who were too old and frail to have contributed much to the actual farm work. But in “lean years,” when there was not so much to go around, everyone should also share in the necessary belt-tightening.
Based on this shared understanding of intergenerational fairness, the Committee’s recommendation was for an indexing system that took account of the ratio of people age 65+ to those of working age, the unemployment rate, and whether overall economic growth – after taking account of inflation – was weak or strong.
When these factors were favourable, indexing would be more than the inflation rate. And when factors were not favourable, indexing would be less. This indexing would be applied not only to OAS and GIS, and to C/QPP, but also to other parts of the retirement income system like the tax limits for RRSPs and workplace pensions.