The Commercial Vehicle Operator's Registration (CVOR) is a requirement for many trucking/bus fleets. To help our clients better understand the CVOR and what is required of operators, Cowan recently hosted a seminar at our Cambridge office, led by Marc Girard, Health and Safety Consultant/Trainer, Infrastructure Health and Safety Association. Below is a summary of the advice he provided about the CVOR.

 What is the CVOR?

The CVOR is a system used to monitor the operator on highway performance.

 Who...

As many pension plan sponsors are aware, the Board of Directors of any organization or company that sponsors a registered pension plan is ultimately responsible for the operation and administration of the program. A certain level of knowledge and understanding of pension plans is required to effectively fulfill this mandate. 

In order to help companies fulfill this mandate, Cowan has developed a training program to help a Board of Directors or Pension Committee to assist their members in...

I first spoke about wellness programs in my April 2009 blog - Is Now the Best Time to Offer Employees a Wellness Program? There appears to be continuing interest among employers for health and wellness programs in the workplace - from lunch-and-learns, to providing health items on lunch menus, and even larger initiatives, such as weekly fitness challenges.

Cowan's Benefits and Retirement Consulting Division has put together some key steps that will help ensure the success of such a program. I...

In every issue of the Business Insurance Report, we have a special feature called "Claims Corner." In our recent Fall/Winter newsletter, we talk about a specific situation in which a client reported a loss to one of his outbuildings due to snow load.

The issue came up during a renewal meeting with his account executive. The client wanted to know if the building was insured and if coverage was available for this type of scenario.

The account executive confirmed that the building was on the...

Many of you volunteer for not-for-profit organizations, and may know of someone who would be interested in an upcoming seminar focusing on the challenges this sector is facing in today's environment.

The February 24^th seminar, being hosted by Cowan Insurance Group at our Cambridge office, will look at the challenging issue of abuse, and more specifically:

• What is abuse coverage?
• What are the limitations of abuse coverage?
• How can a not-for-profit organization protect itself against allegations of...

In the latest issue of the Health, Wealth and Wisdom newsletter, Sonia Spekkens of Cowan Financial Solutions talks about how to determine your investment comfort level. I thought I would mention the article here, because January seems to be a time when most people take time to reassess their goals - financial, health, etc.

In her article, Sonia talks about the four risks investors face, and some strategies, where appropriate, for dealing with the problems caused by market and economic shifts....

As I mentioned in my blog posting last January, Cowan publishes an annual Government Benefit Update. If you would like to check out the 2010 update, please click here.  

It includes:

• Canada and Quebec Pension Plan Rates
• Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (PPIP) Rates
• OAS Rates
• Employment Insurance Premium Rates
• RPP, RRSP & TFSA Maximum Limits

The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) recently released its annual list of the most frequently stolen vehicles. There are some interesting points in their media release that I thought you might be interested in - as a business owner, and as an individual policy holder.

The first point is, auto theft overall is down, which is obviously good. On the other hand, the impact of auto theft is more far reaching than ever before, and it has become much harder to recover stolen vehicles. Why is that?

That...

Earlier in December, Provincial Finance Minister Dwight Duncan announced the Pension Benefits Amendments Act, 2009. We wrote about these amendments in the December Issue of the Employee Benefits Bulletin, by Cowan's Benefits and Retirement Consulting Division, and I thought I would share some of them here.

Although many of these reforms are more relevant to Defined Benefits Pension Plans, the government package includes a number of proposals that will affect Defined Contribution Pension Plans...

A number of local businesses are engaged in food processing. This brings a particular risk around product contamination and product recall.

Product recalls are not uncommon. Just last week, there was news of a product recall by Heinz Canada. If you check the website for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, you'll see several other recalls over the past few months.

While not uncommon, it is important to manage these types of situations safely and swiftly. If your company is involved in a food...