Canada mulling tax reforms to aid pension funds: report

(Reuters) - A bill to overhaul Canadian tax law to promote bigger pension fund surpluses would be introduced this autumn to bolster the country's ailing pension regime, The Globe and Mail reported on its website.

A bill is expected to be introduced by December, Ted Menzies, parliamentary secretary to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Ottawa's point man on pensions, told the paper.

Pension plan managers and federal regulators have worried in recent years about the health of private pension plans. Shortfalls have grown because of historically low interest rates and an aging population.

"We heard from many of the actuaries and many of the legal advisers that if a surplus was allowed to be carried forward, we may not have been facing the problems we are today," Menzies told the paper.

(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore, editing by Mike Peacock)