Pension Liability Problems - Not Just a US Problem

The US PBGC (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.) has issued its annual report, that states that it is short about $22.8 billion in pension liabilities.
This liability grows, as more and more companies declare bankruptcy, and shed their legacy costs.
In Canada, pension liabilities have been building, to the point that the taxpayer will soon be paying the bill (listen up, Stelco...).
How did this happen? Greedy unions, stupid management, and special kudos to the NDP government of the mid 90s that gave pension contribution holidays to a few companies that were considered "too big to fail".
In order for taxpayers to get a break on bailouts like this, companies, unions and government need to look at the following;
1) The government should mandate defined-contribution plans and eliminate defined benefit plans. Unions should look to their membership and realize that defined benefit plans are great at one point, but increasing COLAs (cost of living allowances) on defined benefit plans will only result in doom and gloom in the future. With such lucrative pension benefits, comapnies can't keep up and remain competitive.
2) Pension liabilities should be fully funded. In fact, there should be steep fines for any company that is found to have unfunded liabilities.
3) In order to make defined-contribution plans more palatable to people, the government should remove the mandatory retirement age. I am sure that there will be more income tax to collect from people working past 65, than what the government would get if people started withdrawing from RRSPs or RRIFs.

Retirement with nice pension benefits is a privilege, not a right. As soon as unions, companies and the government realize this, we the taxpayers, can plan accordingly and determine our own financial fate, instead of letting someone else determine it for us.