Ottawa, provinces move forward on pension reform

Federal and provincial ministers have found enough common ground on pension reform to start narrowing down the options for country-wide improvements to the system.

The ministers have wrapped up crucial meetings in Whitehorse on how best to encourage Canadians to save more for their retirement.

They've agreed, after months of researching pensions and retirement income, they now have enough information to start negotiating on actual reforms that would put the seniors of the future on a more stable financial footing.

Alberta and British Columbia had threatened to take an independent path and set up their own supplement to the Canada Pension Plan unless Ottawa showed the will to set up a decent national system.

But sources say both provinces seemed content with Ottawa's commitment today to examine a broad array of options.

The options include a national supplement to the CPP, regulatory reform to give financial services more leeway to set up group savings plans and an expanded CPP.