Ottawa Citizen

Ontarians divided on Wynne’s pension plan, survey shows

46% approve, 44% disapprove, but disapprova­l could grow, pollster says

- MARK KENNEDY mkennedy@ottawaciti­zen.com twitter.com/Mark_Kennedy_

Ontarians are divided over the merits of a new provincial pension plan proposed by the Liberal government, and there are signs that voters aren’t keen on Premier Kathleen Wynne’s foray into the federal election, a poll for Postmedia has found.

The provincewi­de survey by Mainstreet Research also found Ontarians are most likely to trust the federal Conservati­ves to rebuild the struggling manufactur­ing sector. The NDP — which is scoring well in national voting intention for the Oct. 19 federal election — runs third when it comes to public trust on creating manufactur­ing jobs in Ontario.

In recent days, the provincial Liberal government has released details of its proposed pension plan. Wynne had hoped to persuade the federal government to help administer it, but Stephen Harper has refused because he calls it an onerous tax. Wynne says she will proceed anyway.

The poll found 46 per cent approve of having a provincial pension plan, while 44 per cent disapprove and 11 per cent are not sure.

Mainstreet president Quito Maggi said Thursday he doubts the public is sufficient­ly aware of the plan’s details — specifical­ly, that it will require higher premiums from workers.

“As awareness increases about what the realities of this proposal are, these numbers could move very easily in the disapprova­l camp,” Maggi said.

The new pension plan will require companies to pay premiums of 1.9 per cent of salary for each worker, up to $1,643 a year. Employees will have to pay an equal amount.

The plan will be phased in starting in 2017 for employers with 500 or more workers and no workplace pension. It will start for medium businesses on Jan. 1, 2018. Those with 50 or fewer employees will be enrolled on Jan. 1, 2019.

Companies with defined contributi­on plans that equal at least eight per cent of an employee’s salary will be exempt from the plan, provided the employer contribute­s at least four per cent.

When Harper called the federal election earlier this month, Wynne publicly denounced him and threw her support behind Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau.

Since then, a war of words between Wynne and Harper has escalated.

In its poll, Mainstreet noted Wynne’s comments about whom she supports and asked: “Do you approve or disapprove of Kathleen Wynne’s involvemen­t in the federal election?”

The poll found 48 per cent disapprove of her involvemen­t, while 42 per cent approve and 10 per cent are not sure.

In its survey, Mainstreet also asked which federal party people thought was best placed to help create jobs in Ontario’s flagging manufactur­ing sector.

Thirty per cent favour the Conservati­ves, 26 per cent prefer the Liberals, and 18 per cent chose the NDP; six per cent chose the Greens, and 21 per cent were not sure. The gap for the NDP appears despite Leader Tom Mulcair’s lengthy pre-campaign visit to southweste­rn Ontario to woo potential voters.

For its Aug. 17-18 poll of 2,405 Ontarians, Mainstreet surveyed using land lines and cellphones to obtain a random sample of Ontarians by interactiv­e voice response (IVR). Results were weighted against the 2011 census. The margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

 ??  ?? Kathleen Wynne
Kathleen Wynne

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada