I just took mine at my 60th birthday ... haven't received a check yet but they will carry it back to the application date. Things work differently in Canada (obviously, you wouldn't expect otherwise) in that you can't take it before 60 and have to take it by 67, with full benefits at 65. The incentive to wait the extra two years is the benefit would still increase if your earned income in those two years was higher than your workforce history average, which is often the case. They also cut a number of years, I forget how many but I think it's 10 ... of you lowest earning years, when they calculate your average contribution rate, so the payment is a bit higher.
Canada Pension Plan benefits are collected by the Federal Government (as a payroll tax, same as the US) but at a lower rate (employee + employer combined @ 50:50 ratio, or self-employed the whole amount paid by you). Contributions are 9.9% of income, nothing if less than $3,500, so typical situation is employee pays 4.95 and employer pays 4.95. Where the rate is lower is the maximum contribution limit is (2018) $54,900 so no-one pays on income above that.
Even though the Government administers the CPP and both collects contributions and issues the checks, the actual pension is held by an independent arm (the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board). So money is not paid out of general revenue, and contributions are handed over to this agency whom then invests the money; the average long-term rate of return is about 10%. The CPP is actuarially sound for the next 75 years (and in reality longer, but 75 years is the accounting limit for calculating contributions and benefits). Slo there is genuinely money in the pension fund and Government is prohibited by law from attaching it.
The Board is just like the Investment Arm of a bank, they pay salaries for the brokers commensurate with industry norms. So there are a half dozen or so employees of that board making in the million dollar salary range. They do this to insure sound investment strategy and to recruit people who are good at that job. It's that aspect that makes it somewhat unique, as most (probably all) public pensions in the US hire a bank to invest money.
The problem with that is returns are limited ... the contracts with banks are such that returns above [some number] are retained by the bank and not paid into the fund. The reasoning is, apparently*, that taxpayers would balk at paying what are in essence public servants those kinds of salaries in the US. But the cost is high, due to the limit on return.
* Reason based on what the California State Employee pension fund reports to be the case.
