The pension system in Canada. Recommendations for Poland

Abstract

Pioneering papers in Poland of the pension system in Canada, by Wieteska, Zalewa and Pieńkowska, which were published in the last decade of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century, omit the topic of possible applications of the Canadian pension solutions in Poland. Fill the time gap exploratory, the author tries to present herein a thorough knowledge of the development and contemporary state of the pension system in Canada. The aim of the author’s research is to determine to what extent the adopted Canadian pension solutions can be used in Poland. The author also hypothesized that adopted in Canada pension solutions are unlikely to use in Poland. Article about the pension system in Canada is presented as follow: 1) The historical development of the pension system in Canada, 2) Current status of the pension system in Canada, 3) Challenges and expected changes, 4) Recommendations for the Poland. In conclusion, the author states that the comparison of the solutions used in Canada to the situation in Poland leads to several conclusions: –– functioning of the Canadian OAS can not be compared with the obligatory pillar of the Polish Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) or Agricultural Social Insurance Fund (KRUS); the Canadian one is a budgetary plan and the Polish one is a contribution, –– it is difficult to compare uncritically the CPP with public pension funds (OFEs), as all rules of functioning of these solutions in a number of elements are different, –– it is possible to find a lot of similarities between the RPP and occupational pension funds in Poland, as well as between the TFSA and Polish IKE or IKZE. Therefore, only in case of the solutions of voluntary third pension pillar, the Canadian experience now seems possible to be used in Poland. In the presented state of things placed at the beginning the hypothesis that adopted in Canada pension solutions are unlikely to use in Poland received confirmation.