OUR ADVOCACY VOICE COMES TO WINDSOR/ESSEX

So, if there are models of plans out there that work for some Canadians, why is there a “full court press” on telling the rest of us to make do with retail investments? The Finance Ministers have their yearly meeting in June. They have all expressed a willingness to consider all options. Will they take on the status quo? According to Susan Eng “In the last census the figures state that only 30 % of people less than 30 years of age voted while 70% of the over 50 group voted and do so regularly. Sheer numbers alone indicate that listening to this group, our group, would ensure a majority Government come next election.” “We’re watching the Government and will vote accordingly,” she went on to say.

The following is a summary of the April 26, 2010 Pension Reform Poll as conducted by CARP and given to Seniors’ Life for publication by Susan Eng.

CARP members strongly favour a mandatory Universal Pension Plan as a solution to Canada’s pension woes, and, they would give a majority vote to either the Liberals or the Conservatives if they delivered this.

– 80% support urgent pension reform
– 52% say that “major” reforms or a complete overhaul are needed.
– 74% say that resolving the pension crisis is the responsibility and the proper role of the Government and not the private sector

SLOW PROGRESS ON PENSION REFORM IS CAUSED BY:
– 36% – politicians who can’t think beyond the next election cycle
– 34% – politicians’ rich pension plans blind them to the suffering of others
– 17% – believe the private sector investment industry wants to preserve the status quo

CANADIANS CAN’T SAVE FOR RETIREMENT BECAUSE:
– they can’t afford to
– Canadians don’t plan or think far enough ahead

CARP MEMBERS SEE OTHER CANADIANS AS LESS WELL PREPARED
– Most (75%) say they will have at least adequate if not comfortable means to
live in retirement but believe other Canadians will live only day-to-day or less comfortably in retirement

FOR LOW WAGE SECTOR
– 34% say the most equitable solution for those Canadians who can’t afford to save or retire on 18% of their earnings is to significantly increase the OAS & GIS

OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF CARP MEMBERS SUPPORT UPP
– 89% of members support the organization’s proposed Universal Pension Plan with 1/3 strongly in favour.
– most think it should be mandatory, with no opting out to guarantee fairness and adequate funds to create sustainability.

UPP IS AN ELECTION CHANGER
– 60% say they would vote to give a majority to the party that promised to carry through on a Universal Pension Plan
– almost half (48%) of the members would vote Liberal if they promised UPP compared to just 37% who would vote for them normally
– the NDP vote would increase from 12% to 22% if they adopt UPP
– just 32% would vote for the government if they did not adopt UPP, down from 47%

Susan Eng went on to disclose “ according to an ex-Gallop Poll employee, whenever you get over 1,500 responses to a poll, a trendline occurs no matter what the sample group. As the numbers increase is remains fairly true and constant.”

More than 1800 CARP ActionOnline readers responded to this poll overnight. The margin of error for a sample of this size plus or minus 2.4%, 19 times out of 20. That is, if you asked all who responded the identical questions, their responses would be within 2%, either up or down, of these results 95% of the time.