The Old Age Security Act also provides a Spouse's Allowance for eligible widows, widowers and spouses of OAS pensioners. The benefits are payable from age 60 to 65 and are income tested. There are also residence requirements. The Canada Pension Plan provides retirement, death and disability benefits to Canadians who have worked and contributed to the plan. The Quebec Pension Plan is quite similar to the Canada Pension Plan with some minor differences in benefits.
Employers match employee contributions dollar for dollar.
Retirement Benefits Individuals are eligible for benefits commencing at age 65, or age 60 if substantially retired, with contributions having been made for at least one year. There is also a drop-out period allowing a certain number of months associated with the lowest recorded monthly pensionable earnings to be excluded. The following information was before the governments proposed changes and so will be of more historical purpose. In my opinion the government did the politically safe option at the expense of the younger generations. Costs for both CPP and OAS are expected to rise significantly as the population ages.