Harden is similarly skeptical of the ABC plan, especially as a regional plan would make it that much more difficult to initiate a comprehensive new national policy.

'These are cultural issues'

"If I had to choose, I'd be strongly in favour of expanding the CPP. It would provide a much more uniform, secure platform for Canadians than any sort of volunteer, self-directed arrangement," says Shelley Speed, an actuary at Hewitt Associates in Vancouver, who consults with pension managers for unions and private firms. "The ABC plan is a defined contribution plan. The only known in that plan is what you put in. You won't know what you get out. You won't know what you will get over your lifetime. It gives people a choice. But if the goal is to protect the citizens of the country and provide for a secure retirement, expand CPP."

Perry Teperson, as vice president of Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel in Vancouver, manages pension portfolios. He emphasizes that it's just his personal view when he expresses skepticism about the ABC plan or any defined contribution plan that lets people opt out. "I have to tell you that when you look at the level of unused RRSP contribution room, it is huge. Most people don't make full use of RRSP. I don't see how offering them a different [optional] vehicle for saving is going to change that.

"Why aren't Canadians saving more for retirement?" Teperson muses. "Perhaps they have other financial issues that are more pressing, or they see retirement off in the distance can't be bothered. Maybe they just prefer to spend now. These are cultural issues that we don't fully understand."

But Ambachtsheer criticizes the monolithic nature of the CLC approach, saying it might pour too much of the nation's population's savings into a small number of very large investment entities. He has also said defined benefit plans, with their guaranteed payouts, could force younger workers to carry too much burden paying for retirees when the market plummets, as happened recently.

The voluntary nature of RRSPs appeals to some people, for both practical and ideological reasons. Even the high management expense ratios that hinder mutual fund performance carry a sometimes overlooked advantage: they pay the salaries of commission-based financial advisors, who provide many other services beyond selling mutual funds.

Galloping into Whitehorse

So far, Ignatieff's proposal for a "Supplementary Canada Pension Plan" seems to be similar to Ambachtsheer's "Canada Supplementary Pension Plan" in that it would be voluntary. However, on the party's website yesterday details were lacking on whether the plan would be directed contribution, or how the supplementary fund would be managed. To further the confusion, the Grits' announcement urged the Harper government to work with labour "to implement an SCPP" while also making a point of saying the party was in sync with the pension reform pronouncements of B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell.

NDP Leader Jack Layton, a fulsome backer of the CLC proposal to double CPP, was quick to slam Ignatieff for waiting to echo his own call for action two months ago. Layton's office issued a mock Liberal news release entitled: "How to write Liberal policy: Take an NDP release, put the leader's name on it and re-announce it a couple of months later."

Ignatieff fired back, "We've been working on this for more than a year. These are complicated issues so you want to get them right."

The political stakes -- and maneuvering -- are rising just one week before a Dec. 17 meeting in Whitehorse of provincial and federal finance ministers where pensions are at the top of the agenda. Who'd have thought December in the Yukon could be so exciting?

Coming: In tough economic times, private workplace pensions are under attack.