With the House of Commons returning today we can expect a raucous session. Already the battle lines are forming as the opposition party's line up to take shots at the Prime Minister over pension reform. Not since 1985, when Brian Mulroney stated that he would de-index Old Age Security (OAS), have we seen such a feeding frenzy around pension issues.
The Prime Minister's office is in full damage control mode with talking points that insist there are no immediate plans to make changes and they are pushing back on media reports that the government plans to extend the age from 65-67 (before you can receive the benefits), insisting that no final decision has been made. They even had the Parliamentary Secretary to the Finance Minister, Shelly Glover, on TV discussing the issue, and the Minister of State for Finance Ted Menzies was also giving interviews. All of this points to the fact that they see the potential damage this can do to Conservative prospects down the road.
With so many baby boomers near retirement age (myself included), this issue strikes close to home for many of us. Baby boomers live in those hard fought-for suburban ridings that the Conservatives needed to win to obtain their majority. There are political consequences for this government if they cannot turn this story around to their advantage.
This issue is a gift for the opposition and tailor-made for Question Period. Extending the age from 65 to 67 is the figure that's out there: With the House recessed there was only limited opportunity for the government to shut down attack. Those figures percolated over the weekend, you still see them mentioned in numerous stories, thus it already has legs.
Whether or not that number is accurate and whether or not the Conservatives intended to act quickly on OAS will be buried in the opposition attack. The task facing both the Liberals and the NDP will be to convince the public that the Conservatives really do intend to change the OAS to the detriment of all of those retiring baby boomers. With all of us watching what has been happening to pensions in Europe as governments there fight their fiscal problems, it is not a stretch to think that quite a few Canadians will believe the opposition attacks.
The Conservative platform in the last election did address pension issues, but said nothing about making changes to the OAS. How long do you think it will take for the Liberals to resurrect their old attack points from the 2004, 2005-2006 elections and bring up the well-worn phrase "hidden agenda?"
Adding additional fuel to the fire in Question Period will be Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's comments on revamping the immigration process. His comments will be unsettling news to many of the multicultural communities who supported the Conservatives in the last election. Combine that with the pension issue and the opposition parties will see a golden opportunity to snatch back voters that moved to the Conservatives.
For the NDP it will be an opportunity to entrench their hold on official opposition status; for the Liberals it will provide a chance to resurrect their brand, especially in vote-rich Ontario.
With so much at stake, these two issues combined with pre-budget maneuvering will guarantee that this session will be loud, noisy, and full of over the top rhetoric as the three parties use Question Period to fight for the minds and future votes of Canadians.
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Jul 6, 2010 ... “The CPP investment is a very important endorsement for Laricina and we ...oilsands as a private equity investor by sinking $250-million into ...
Jul 6, 2010 ... “The CPP investment is a very important endorsement for Laricina and ... is the first oilsands investment through its private investing division.
Jul 6, 2010 ... Skip to main content; Skip to CPP invests $250M in oilsands; Skip to ... "CPP'sinvestment in the tar sands involves pensioners in a toxic legacy ...
Pension Pulse: Canada Pension Plan Invests in Oilsands
Jul 6, 2010 ... “The CPP investment is a very important endorsement for Laricina and ... is the first oilsands investment through its private investing division.
Canada Pension Plan Invests in Oilsands | ZeroHedge
Jul 6, 2010 ... “The CPP investment is a very important endorsement for Laricina and we ...oilsands as a private equity investor by sinking $250-million into ...
Shaun Polczer of the Calgary Herald reports, Canada Pension Plan invests in oilsands: Taking a . team and development strategy,” CEO Glen Schmidt said in a news release. . ...
tafeveva.comeze.com/canada-pension-plan-news-release-2010.php
CIBC 2.5 Billion income in 2010 compared to 1.2 billion last year.
TD Bank at least 4.6 Billion in 2010 compared to 3.1 billion last year.
Scotiabank 4.2 Billion in 2010 compared to 3.5 billion last year.
BMO 2.8 billion in 2010 compared to 1.7 billion last year.
Bank profits at 19b, a 44% increase in 2010, and year on year of record profits, compared to the year before in 2009- another record profit, and in 2008, which was also a record profit.
We will have a ~55 Billion fiscal deficit , AND a forthcoming corporate tax cut.
So that's AT LEAST $1666 for every Canadian, or $2500 for every working Canadian, or about $4422 for each Canadian household. (To the 'average' Canadian, its 1+ month of adult work, and for the richest in our country it is about 5 and half hours minus lunch.)
CEO pay has increased in several years, and unemployment has increased during from 6>7.5>8.7% in the last two years.
The largest industrial project on the planet, the Tar Sands, and two of the top Tar Sands investors - Royal Bank and Petro Canada/Suncor.
ETEconomic benefits are going to the rich, the bailed outed industries from harpers government include :
Pharma -- 55 million doses for 35 million people, then the price for each doubles.
Construction -- harpers Action plan
Auto -- need I say anything here
Security -- yes the G8 / 20 was well spent money, then the owelympics of another billion
Military -- extend the afgan mission, buy jets, now Libya
Banks -- 125 billion, pretending that the CMHC backed loans off their books is not a bailout
Advertising -- well we all see harpers ads daily now
Telecommunications -- billions spent, yet we still have poor service and outrageous rates
Last week CIBC, one of Canada’s largest banks, called on the federal government to use energy mega-projects to stimulate the economy. Jim Prentice, the former federal environment minister and now vice-chairman of CIBC, made the announcement. He suggested that by providing favourable conditions for large-scale energy projects, government could create jobs without the expense of stimulus programs. Speaking on the CBC’s Power and Politics, Prentice said that environmental assessments and other approvals are taking far too long. [Quote 4:28-4:34] He also stated that environmental reviews don’t always take economic considerations into account, and he recommended that final decisions should be left to politicians. CIBC estimates that up to a million jobs could be created over 20 years, if government creates positive conditions for energy projects. However, one of the frequent criticisms of mega-projects is that they tend to create mostly short term jobs, and that even those, all too often go to skilled outside workers, not local communities. Prentice spoke specifically about the Lower Churchill hydroelectric project in Newfoundland and Labrador, but also mentioned a number of other controversial projects that CIBC has their eye on.
phone/fax numbers, and e-mails.
Dear Minister Kent,
Don’t trash the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act! This law is
critical to understanding and mitigating the adverse environmental
effects of developments such as pipelines, tar sands projects, and
mines. Eliminating legal requirements and limiting public participation
in project reviews makes environmental disasters such as BP’s Deepwater
Horizon, Exxon Valdez, and Fukushima more likely. I know that you don’t
want catastrophes like these to happen in Canada.
That’s why I am urging you to work with Parliament to strengthen the
Canadian Environmental Assessment Act to make it more effective,
efficient, and open to public participation.
Canadians want all development projects to be sustainable, and a
stronger environmental assessment law – not a weaker one – is key to
achieving that goal.
Thank you for considering my views.
Sincerely,
[your name here]
cc:
The Right Hon. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
The Hon. Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources
Megan Leslie, MP, NDP Environment Critic
Kirsty Duncan, MP, Liberal Environment Critic
Maria Mourani, MP, Bloc Québecois Environment Critic
Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party
To find your Member of Parliament, use the Parliamentary directory at
http://www.parl.gc.ca/SenatorsMembers.aspx?Language=E.
Mail may be sent postage-free to any Member of Parliament at the
following address:
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
on assessing the environmental impacts of physical projects, so
government policies, plans, and programs are not included – things like
fisheries policies, regional development plans, or plans for disposing
of high-level nuclear fuel waste. The review process also suffered
resistance from some government departments, such as Fisheries and
Oceans, that didn’t want to take responsibility for larger environmental
issues. MiningWatch Canada had to go all the way to the Supreme Court to
ensure that assessments could not be artificially defined to limit their
scope and avoid the Act’s public involvement requirements. And it
suffered periodic setbacks, especially when the Navigable Waters
Protection Act was amended in 2009 to exclude it from CEAA, and CEAA
itself amended in 2010 to exclude projects funded under the government’s
Economic Action Plan from environmental assessment.
The Environmental Planning and Assessment Caucus of the Canadian
Environment Network has continued working hard to engage the public and
develop thoughtful, evidence-based proposals for a better federal EA
process, and has produced a significant body of research and
documentation.
(See http://rcen.ca/caucus/environmental-planning-and-assessment/resources)
THERE IS A TIME AND PLACE FOR EVERYTHING! this is neither the time or the place, go find a posting on the environment and post all you want.
www.zerohedge.com/article/canada-pension-plan-invests-oilsands
&
A major component of our plan is to expand our Canada Pension Plan (CPP). ... 'CPP's investment in the tar sands involves pensioners in a toxic legacy when they should be ...
www.nupge.ca/issues/pensions-and-retirement-security
&
The Globe and Mail reports that the Conservatives are planning to cut CPP premiums that were raised under the Liberals in order ensure that the program would be sustainable over the long term. In the interim they will use surpluses to fill the gap. But what happens if those surpluses disappear?? This looks like a move that will make CPP “unsustainable”, and the next move in the game would likely feed off alarming reports from the right that dramatic action is required (think privatization) to “fix” this problem.
So, yet another tax cut from the Conservatives, this time a Canadian version of the attack on Social Security south of the border. Remember that the CPP is one of the pillars (the others being Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement) that ensure our seniors are not eating cat food when they can no longer work.
Mind you...if you think the Harper's Gov't raiding the CPP to destroy the environment isn't interconected...perhaps you should try to look at the BIG PICTURE
BTW Perhaps you;ll listen to the Raging Grannies on this issue