OTTAWA—Ontario is vowing to set up its own pension plan after federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty ruled out any enhancements to benefits under the Canada Pension Plan.

Accusing the federal Conservatives of ragging the puck, Finance Minister Charles Sousa told reporters Monday afternoon that the provincial government intends to develop a “made in Ontario” solution to increase benefits to pensioners.

“It’s unfortunate, because it’s not our preferred choice,” Sousa told the Star on Monday evening.

“I would prefer that we would do this together with the federal government. My colleagues around Canada and other provinces seem to be willing to do so. But it is what it is, so now I’m going to have to take a look at those alternatives.”

Details are scant on the provincial Liberals’ plans — Sousa said he didn’t want to speculate, or to pre-empt discussions between finance officials, industry, and advocates. No timeline has been provided for those discussions, and the Liberals say they’re studying their options at this point.

Sousa was speaking after a meeting between Flaherty and the provincial and territorial finance ministers at Meech Lake in Quebec, where retirement savings issues dominated the agenda. Several provinces, including Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Manitoba, having been pushing Ottawa to consider enhancements to CPP, arguing the annual maximum of around $12,000 is insufficient.

But Flaherty and his junior minister, Kevin Sorenson, made it very clear enhancing CPP will not be on the Conservatives’ agenda any time soon.

Sorenson warned that enhancements to CPP — and the requisite increases to employee and employer payroll taxes — would hurt the economy.

“We believe that CPP payroll taxes can hurt the economy and distract from what truly matters for all Canadians: keeping our economy strong and our finances on a strong fiscal footing,” Sorenson told reporters after the meeting.

“Now is the time for fiscal discipline . . . Now is not a time for CPP payroll tax increases.”

Sousa called his federal counterparts’ position “disappointing.”

“Listen, I’m cognizant of the economic consequences here,” Sousa said. “So I’m going to have outside information provided to assess actuarial valuations of what this will mean. We want a positive impact overall.”

A “made in Ontario” pension plan is expected to be one of the cornerstones of the Liberal platform for an election that could come as early as spring.

In an interview with the Star last week, Premier Kathleen Wynne emphasized that an Ontario pension plan was not mere political posturing — a point she underscored in a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper earlier this month.

“I feel more urgency and hear more urgency from people on the future and what their retirement security is going to look like. He believes that the urgency is on the side of the fragility of the economy. I just don’t believe we can wait,” Wynne said of Harper.

Wynne took to Twitter to voice her displeasure at Ottawa’s refusal to budge on boosting the Canada Pension Plan.

“I’m very disappointed by the Feds lack of action on a CPP enhancement to help our future workers retire with security,” Wynne tweeted Monday.

“We will lead with a made in Ontario solution,” she vowed.

Sousa also said he was “shocked” to learn that transfer payments from the federal government to Ontario will decrease by $641 million next year — from $19.799 billion to $19.158 billion.

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“That’s a substantive amount that is really (as) much of an attack on Ontario than anything I’ve seen,” Sousa said. “This is going to adversely affect the well-being on Ontarians . . . Frankly, Ontario deserves its fair share. And Ontario is not getting our fair share.”

Overall federal transfer payments to provinces will increase next year, from $61.9 billion in 2013-2014 to $64.8 billion in 2014-2015. Every other province and territory will see an increase in federal transfer payments in 2014-2015, although Ontario still receives the largest amount of federal transfers among provinces.

Flaherty’s office said the transfer payments — determined by a standardized formula — fell because the province’s economy improved.