National

COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT FOR 2019

The Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) on our pension is based on the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over a 12 month period ending on October 31 of each year.

• For pensioners under 65 years of age, this number is rounded to the nearest whole number, to a maximum of 2%.
• For pensioners 65 years and over, the rule of our pension plan states that the COLA should be the greater of :

-100% of the increase in the CPI (rounded to the nearest whole number), to a maximum of 2%

     or

-60% of the increase in the CPI (rounded to the nearest two decimal points), to a maximum of 4%.

On November 23, Statistics Canada released the CPI data for the last twelve months. According to Statistics Canada, the CPI rose 2.4% between October 2017 and October 2018 for Canada as a whole. 

Based on this, the Cost of Living Adjustment on our Bell Canada pensions should be 2% in 2019. The increase will appear on the January pension payment.