The City of Calgary spends significantly more on providing its employees with pensions than any other major Canadian city — in fact, it spends more than the next ten large Canadian cities combined.New data compiled by SecondStreet.org shows Calgary is very generous with how it spends taxpayer money on retirement benefits for its employees.More than 2,500 city employees are set to receive not one, but two pensions upon retirement.And 126 workers will get a grand total of three separate pensions, including a base plan and two taxpayer-funded top-ups, one of which is known as an “overcap pension.”The third pension is 100% funded by Calgary taxpayers..The number of employees in the city’s “triple pension club” has grown steadily in recent years, rising from 45 in 2018 to 126 at present. SecondStreet.org estimates Calgary could save nearly $13 million annually if employees were restricted to a single pension plan.This suggests those savings could instead be directed toward reducing taxes for residents who have been hit with continuous property tax hikes in recent years, along with increases in the cost of living and general expenses.Statistics Canada data from 2024 shows that while 87% of government employees nationwide have a workplace pension (3.9 million out of 4.5 million workers), just 20% of Canadians outside the public sector enjoy the same benefit.Of the 16.3 million Canadians working outside government, only 3.3 million have registered workplace pensions.The Western Standard has reached out to the City of Calgary for comment.
