WELCOME

I was surfing the Internet one day and I noticed that Saskatchewan had unlocked their citizens locked in pensions 100% when they were transferred from a locked in retirement account ((L.I.R.A.)) into a Fund where they would be able to start collecting from . (( we will call the unlocked fund a registered retirement income fund R.R.I.F. )) The name varies a little bit Province to Province. I was surfing a bit more and I found that Manitoba had Unlocked 50% of the locked in funds in their province for their people. (( They are currently being lobbied to unlock the remaining 50% )) I then begin to think (( and that is hard to do sometimes )) Ontario being a progressive Province. Why is Ontario not unlocking these funds for their people. Considering that this is very unjust and cruel legislation keeping these funds Locked in when a person reaches Retirement age. Many of us were lead to belive when we contributed to the Defined Contribution Fund and reached the age of retirement that we could draw on our funds at will. Not be controlled by the Government and only allowed to remove basically the interest on the funds from 2.5% to 11% depending how good the fund was doing. This our OWN MONEY not Government Money. It is not OAS or CPP.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Media Conference Summary


Good afternoon,
Wednesday, September the 26th in Toronto at the CARP headquarters, a media conference took place that included notable financial economics experts Jack Mintz and Malcolm Hamilton, Bill Gleberzon of CARP,members of our Ontario Coalition of Independent LIF Holders, reporters from various media organizations and other interested parties.
Bill Gleberzon of CARP, head of CARP's campaign to unlock pensions,hosted the event and presented a comprehensive summary of the locked-in pensions, the 61 MPP's with full 100% access, the invited speakers and the current status of the political parties position.
A number of items relating to the unlocking of pensions in our provinceand various rationale for unlocking locked-in pensions was discussed at length by the participants.
A message of support for unlocking locked-in pensions, written by renowned financial expert Gordon Pape (although unable to attend), was read on his behalf.
Our two attending Coalition members, Bill Nafziger and Philip James,gave examples of the hardships and limitations affecting them as a direct result of holding one of these restrictive locked-in pensions as well as a number of other stories of hardships being encountered by Ontario residents that are currently in possession of locked-inpensions.
They were very well received and as a direct result, one of their stories is featured in today's TheStar.com. The article can be accessedon the internet at;http://www.thestar.com/News/article/260918
Another article has also been written today in the Financial Post byJonathan Chevreau under the banner "The Wealthy Boomer" based on an interview with Malcolm Hamilton and can be accessed at;http://communities.canada.com/financ...-pensions.aspx
Philip James read our Coalition statement that I wrote on behalf of the members of our Coalition.
It can be found on the internet using google and searching for "Coalition of Independent LIF Holders".
We are encouraging every Ontarian who is currently in possession of a LIRA, LIF or LRIF, (essentially a form of a locked-in pension) to lobby your MPP and the candidates in your local riding to unlock all"locked-in" pensions 100% thus allowing you to decide for your self how to manage your own pension money.
Remember this is not government money- it's yours - 100% of it.
You must demand to have the same right to manage it as you see fit, as was created for 61 MPP's by MPP's in 1999.
Yes, they already have 100% access to their former "wound-up"pension through an amendment to provincial legislation they exclusively created for themselves in December of 1999.
All other Ontarians do not have this privilege!
We are also encouraging every Ontarian who is currently receiving some form of pension benefit from your employer to take heed of the future limitations you will face if you are forced to have your company pension benefit transferred to a "locked-in" retirement account due to layoff, termination, company closure or similar event that creates such an occurrence.
Although this may not be on the minds of the younger workforce since retirement is far into the future, changing the legislation to have these "locked-in" retirement accounts (LIRA's) unlocked at age 55 is as equally important for the younger workforce as it is for those who are currently at the qualified retirement age (usually 55), since they too will one day be in a similar position once they reach retirement age.
The campaign to have these pensions unlocked for those now with LIF's and LRIF's (created from the afore mentioned LIRA's) today is extremely important as it greatly affects the quality of retirement they will have if access to their locked-in pension is increased to 100% as 61MPP's in 1999 did for themselves.
Yes, there are 61 elite Ontarians amongst us that enjoy a benefit that is not available to you!
The Liberals have introduced a one time 25% unlock option in January of 2008 in an attempt to appease the holders of locked-in pensions.
We believe this to be a hypocritical insult to all Ontarians while twenty of Premiere McGuinty's Liberals, past and present, continue to enjoy100% access for themselves!
They continue to support this hypocrisy by allowing two acts to exist, with dramatically different access provisions, governing the exact same type of pension derived assets.
One act (MPP Pension Benefits Act) governing and granting themselves 100% access and the other act (Ontario Pension Benefits Act) governing the rest of all other Ontarians allowing a paltry 6.5% yearly access!
The NDP, although as of today quiet on this issue in their campaign , had introduced a bill (Bill 175) in December of 2006 to unlock pensions 100% as well.
The PC's are the only party to date that have publicly committed to 100% unlocking since their July 5th public announcement and continue to highlight this in their campaign, if elected.
Saskatchewan, in 2002, became a leader in respecting the rights of their residents to manage their own pension money and unlocked all locked-in pensions for ALL their residents, not just their provincial politicians.
Ontario stubbornly continues on with their repressive,regressive and discriminatory policies pertaining to locked-in pensions for all Ontarians, with the exception of the 61 MPP's of 1999.
We encourage you to exercise your rights and let your voice be heard in the upcoming provincial election and vote for the party that will unlock locked-in pensions 100% as was done for the 61 MPP's in 1999.
Our Coalition will accept nothing less than 100% unlocking, as was done in Saskatchewan, and parity with our own 61 MPP's of 1999!
Thank you , Grant Fleury
Ontario Coalition of Independent LIF Holders
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