Ontario fails to tax corporations effectively, looking to ordinary citizens for bailout.
TORONTO, ON, September 10, 2012: A new way to fight back against proposed pension changes by the Ontario Liberal government is now online. The website A Matter of Trust aims to inform Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE) members about what the government has proposed to do to their retirement savings but also provide a place for members to voice concerns and find tools to speak out.
Pensions remain one of the biggest concerns for working and soon-to-be-retired people. Right now, in Ontario, Premier Dalton McGuinty and Finance Minister Dwight Duncan are looking for ways out of Ontario’s financial trouble. Instead of looking to corporations to pay their fair share of taxes, they’re looking to members of Ontario’s larger jointly-sponsored pension plans to bail out the government.
Cloaked in talk of making pension funds more efficient and successful, the Liberals are considering the creation of a pension superfund worth $25 billion to more than $100 billion. The government wants to get rid of the joint member-employer trustee structure, appoint its own people and spend people’s retirement savings.
The government wants to get rid of the joint member-employer trustee structure, appoint its own people and spend people’s retirement savings.
This move would affect thousands of members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE), who are part of the following plans:
- Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAAT) Pension Plan
- Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)
- Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS)
- OPSEU Pension Trust (OPT)
While the government says that any change will not affect benefits earned to date, changes will be applied only after legislation is passed. Allowing the government to play with valuable retirement savings is a great cause of concern.
The union is encouraging members to use the resources on the website to contact the premier and their member of provincial parliament (MPP) to voice their concerns about the proposed changes.
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© Copyright 2012 Public Values Contributor, All rights Reserved. Written For: StraightGoods.ca
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