A century ago, the average Canadian lifespan was 60 – today, people can expect to live 20 years longer than that. In addition, not only has the influence of the baby boom generation transformed society, so 
too will it transform the choices and challenges associated with retirement.
Retirement in Canada (Oxford University Press), a new book by York political science Professor Thomas R. Klassen of School of Public Policy &Administration in the Faculty of Liberal Arts &d Professional Studies, book brings together the shifts in retirement already taking place and predictions for the years ahead.
The Retirement in Canada: How Retirement is Changing for Individuals, Families, Employers and Canadian Society as the Baby Boom Generation Ages will launch Tuesday, Nov. 5, from 4 to 6pm, at the York University Bookstore, York Lanes, Keele campus. Everyone is welcome to attend. Light refreshment will be provided.
Separating fact from fiction, Klassen considers retirement from many angles, including the rise of the welfare state, income security programs, the debate around mandatory retirement, attitudes and expectations of workers, and new approaches to phased retirement. It includes discussions about mandatory retirement and the human rights of older adults, giving a balanced look at the hot-button issues facing Canada.
The book will leave readers knowledgeable about the nature of retirement, retirement trends, public policy debates about retirement, and the future shape of retirement in Canada,” writes Klassen, who calls retirement “arguably the most complicated transition that most of us will experience”.
His evaluation of the choices and challenges associated with retirement considers how retirement looks from a range of perspectives: how it is encountered by the individual and family, by the employer, and by governments creating and amending public policy.
The options for adapting to wide-scale retirement include creative and forward-looking ideas, such as the lessons Canadians can learn from developing countries. Retirement, predicts Klassen, will become more buffet-like rather than à la carte, an adaptive and gradual transition rather than an on-off switch.
Klassen has written extensively on retirement and income security.
The launch is presented by the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, the Department of Political Science, the School of Public Policy & Administration, the Graduate Program in Critical Disability Studies, the York Retirement Planning Centre, and the York University Bookstore.