COLLINGWOOD, ON, July 11 /CNW/ - Fourteen organizations from across Canada announced today that they have formed the Common Front for Retirement Security (CFRS). They include: CARP, Canada's Association for the Fifty Plus, Investor Protection Association, Royal Canadian Legion and several prominent seniors/pensioners groups. Collectively they represent 2 million members.
The Common Front for Retirement Security (CFRS) succeeds the Common Front for Pension Splitting and will continue to safeguard the hard-won legislation that allows married and equivalent spouses to split pension income starting in 2007.
CFRS advocates better governance of pensions, investments and retirement savings. It supports the initiatives outlined in Finance Minister Flaherty's June 27 speech to a Conference on Securities Law Enforcement that embraces a single national securities commission.
The CFRS also supports Finance Critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis's demands for more detailed disclosure of executive perks and compensation, better policing of what the NDP calls the "Wild West" of financial markets, and protection for whistleblowers.
We share concerns expressed by Bank of Canada Governor, David Dodge (May 2007) about defined benefit pension plans that is echoed by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries on http://www.actuaries.ca.
The problems have been clearly identified. Solutions are available. What are federal and provincial governments waiting for? CFRS will muster ordinary citizens to empower our politicians into judicious action.
The issues are interlinked. Pension funds, RRSPs, stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other private investments drive the economy. All are dependent on the integrity and effectiveness of capital market regulations. It is imperative that resident and foreign investors have confidence in the system - and pension plans need insolvency protection.
Canadians deserve competent law enforcement that protects them from swindlers and abusers involved in white-collar crime. According to the Small Investor Protection Association, Canadians lose $18 billion a year to fraud and excessive fees.
Employees warrant retirement security - but 40 percent are not covered by employment related pension plans. A national contributory pension plan, similar to the Canada Pension Plan/Quebec Pension Plan could solve this problem.
Pundits, financial institutions, regulatory bodies and the media call for reform. Politicians of all stripes have advocated for a national securities commission since 1932. Streamlining the system would enhance the economy, increase job security, pay for itself - and reduce costs to investors.
It is time to put aside petty jurisdictional squabbling and get on with reforms. Canada needs a central agency with sufficient enforcement teeth to protect individual and pension-fund investments within the framework of a system that is efficient, effective and competitive.
The CFRS is determined to represent ordinary Canadians to this effect.
www.RetirementSecurity.ca
For further information: Dan Braniff, Chair, Georgian Bay CARP Chapter, Liaison, Common Front for Retirement Security, dan.braniff@sympatico.ca, (519) 363-2552, http://georgianbay.carp.ca; Stan Buell, President, Small Investor Protection Assoc. SIPA, Liaison CFRS, stanbuell@rogers.com, (905) 471-2911, www.sipa.ca; Duane Frerichs, Air Canada Pionairs, Liaison CFRS, dfrerichs@cogeco.ca, (905) 877-5809
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