Oliver says open to voluntary pension contributions

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Finance Minister Joe Oliver said on Tuesday the government is considering allowing Canadians to contribute more to the country's pension plan. "I'm pleased to inform the House that we are open to giving Canadians the option to voluntarily contribute more to the Canada Pension Plan to supplement their current CPP retirement savings," Oliver told legislators. Some of Canada's provinces have lobbied for the amount that workers and employers contribute to the federal pension to be raised due to worries that Canadians are not saving enough for retirement. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, plans to launch its own mandatory provincial pension plan in 2017 for people who do not have a workplace plan. While Oliver did not provide details on what the option would look like, he said there would not be another mandatory payroll tax. (Reporting by Leah Schnurr and Randall Palmer; Editing by Richard Chang)