Association of Public Service Alliance Retirees
PRESIDENT'S REPORT
February 2011
The Association's interventions have been geared toward the direction established by the members at the last national convention of the organization. We have achieved extraordinary strides, considering the lack of awareness and understanding by our electorate, the federal MP's. However, some ministers and several departmental assistants stopped hearing the sound of voices, but now they have begun to listen to the complexity of the political embarrassment we have raised. The honourable Diane Ablonczy, responsible for the seniors' issue, had to leave her position as she could no longer follow or understand the meaning of the word aging, which was too subtle for her intelligence. Her colleague, the honourable Rosa Ambrose, Minister of Public Works and Government Services, and Status of Women, was able to direct us toward more receptive Boards, which enabled us to meet with certain individuals who had a remarkable knowledge of the public service pension Act, the Canada Pension plan, the Quebec Pension plan and the Old Age security plan. We fully outlined the shortcomings of payments to survivors, the chronic problem of disability pension and the lack of rigor by the government to pay the money due to thousands of beneficiaries, and among other things, the supplementary death benefit. Did you know that less than 11% of beneficiaries claim the amounts due to them? That is incredible.
In 2010, the Association, once again, recovered more than 9 million dollars for the beneficiaries of its deceased members. This money would have been definitely lost, and the government would have appropriated it without any remorse. Disgusting, that's the right word.
I wish to thank all the members who supported the Association during its awareness campaign with the federal MP's. The Association managed to reach 217 MP's, and we received more than 1600 replies. In the message I sent you with the 2011 renewal, you did notice that the interest shown by the House of Common members, in Ottawa, towards retirees and the elderly, is practically non existent. It was more important to talk about euthanasia than to find a formula which could create thousands of jobs, given the tragic situation of the aging of the Canadian population. That is revolting.
A new MP elected less than 5 months ago has just been appointed Minister of State responsible for the seniors' issue. We briefly met with the honourable Julian Fantino and expressed our wish to develop with him priorities related to his new duties. We only hope he will be more cooperative than his predecessor.
It's not because we are now convinced that a very large majority of the House of Commons patients could claim to be clowns, that the Association will stop to try and educate some of them:
- the protection of our assets remains an essential priority;
- the injustice of an outdated and immoral legislation with regard to disability pension issues is a conflict we must win;
- the indexing of our pension plan is far from being a joke;
- we all know the integration of the pension at age 65 has no reason to be.
We will continue to intensify our awareness methods more than ever in the next few months. We cannot accept that the need to improve the retirement income of the majority of the Canadian population remains untold. We will never admit the inequality of income between retired women and men. Currently, being poor at retirement is conjugated at the feminine gender. In 2006, figures showed that the average annual income for women aged 65 and over was $21,909 compared to $35,404 for men. We never knew where the government representatives obtained this data, except that it came from public plans under review.
The expressed negative acknowledgement on the status of the various presentations the Association has made based on the phenomenon of the increase of life expectancy: the poverty of seniors will continue for a very long time if we do not react. The need to show some concern for the economic security of elderly women is a capital emergency.
In 2010, exactly 631 telephone calls were received at the Association's national office, managed and administrated only by volunteers. Those men and women dedicate much of their time to meet needs which grow quickly with the increase in membership.
It's a challenge we appreciate because we can justify the importance of an Association of Public Service Alliance Retirees that allows former PSAC members to continue to identify with their former union. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the PSAC national president, Mr. John Gordon, for listening to us and for his support and that of all the members of the PSAC Executive committee.
Yes, there are other associations of seniors, and their activities are commendable and responsible; I also am a member of one of those organizations. A canvassing method I will never accept, it's the use of the public servants' Pension number, for the sole purpose of recruiting new members. This trick is illegal and malicious. Be vigilant with respect to this type of deceit. A PENSION NUMBER is confidential and personal information. Nobody has the right to appropriate this private and secret information between you and the federal government to claim anything; it's prohibited and illicit. Denounce this fraud if this type of situation occurs. Call us, we will intervene, as we have done in 2010. Contact your federal MP; he is supposed to be the protector of your confidential rights. DO NOT LET ANYONE ABUSE YOU.
Hundreds of members' files have again been reviewed by the Association in 2010. All topics are taken into consideration, answered knowledgeably or discussed with the various PSAC service branches in order to find solutions that can satisfy disagreements or unrest. I can state that on the whole, all the members who contacted the Association were pleased with the services of the organization.
All the Association actions are the result of team work that is demonstrated in a more spontaneous and informed manner in time. This phenomenon justifies the involvement necessary for the operation of the organization. My final thanks are addressed to all the members of the Association' National Council.
Michel Chevalier
National President
Date Modified : 2012/01/11
