pensions be improved?* 1

The recent report of the Expert Panel on Older Workers provided an important focus on retirement income policy. We comment here on the Panel’s recommendations that aim to support continued work by the elderly. We find that the focus on removing barriers to continued work is well-motivated, practical, and sensible. Particular attention must be paid to the full actuarial cost of reforms, however. Overall, the recommendations provide a sterling benchmark for future efforts to reform Canada’s retirement income system. The Expert Panel on Older Workers has produced a wide-ranging and ambitious report that touches on a number of important issues for older workers. The underlying premises of the report are that changes in the economy present unique challenges for older workers and that, in the future, elderly Canadians may need to work longer to maintain current trajectories of economic growth and living standards. The panel urges us to focus on older workers as a long-term but critical challenge for public policy research and action.1 The work of the Panel provides an important focal point for retirement income policy in Canada. The aim of increasing flexibility for retirement choices is well-chosen. It is important