In an open letter released today to the Prime Minister and all Provincial Premiers, CARP calls for retirement security to be made a priority at the November 10th First Ministers’ meeting and that a pension summit be called, which includes retiree groups, to deal with the threatened retirement security of millions of retirees.
Click here to read the letter.
“CARP is encouraged that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty raised the issue of pensions at the meeting of finance ministers this week and we are asking that at the First Ministers’ meeting that the focus also include protection for the pensioners not just relief for the fund managers”, added Eng.
Emails and phone calls received at the CARP office demand action from the government to counteract the impact of the market turmoil and retiree groups are organizing and writing to their elected representatives.
“Who else should be looking after Canadians’ retirement security? Pensioners should not have to stand alone while they become fodder for the financial recovery of banks and other commercial institutions”, says Dan Braniff, Founder, Common Front for Retirement Security, [CFRS] and Chair of CARP’s Georgian Bay Chapter.
CARP also calls for specific action to protect current retirement savings and to provide retirement security into the future, including an immediate moratorium on mandated minimum Registered Retirement Income Fund [RRIF] withdrawals, conditions to protect pensioners in exchange for extending the time for pension fund managers to fund deficits and implementing a universal supplementary pension plan for those without any retirement savings.
CARP is a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization committed to advocating for a New Vision of Aging for Canada, social change that will bring financial security, equitable access to health care and freedom from discrimination. CARP seeks to ensure that the marketplace serves the needs and expectations of our generation and provides value-added benefits, products and services to our members. Through our network of chapters across Canada, CARP is dedicated to building a sense of community and shared values among our members in support of CARP’s mission.
For further information, please contact:
Pam Maher
Communications Coordinator
Anne Gravel
Researcher, Policy Development
for
Susan Eng
Vice President Advocacy
Dan Braniff, Founder, Common Front for Retirement Security, [CFRS]
and Chair of the Georgian Bay Chapter of CARP.
519-363-2552
