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.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

CARP’s campaign to unlock locked-in funds in Ontario
Article By: Bill Gleberzon, CARP co-director of Government Relations
CARP campaigns to unlock locked-in funds 100 per cent for 450,000 Ontarians.
The primary objective of CARP’s campaign in conjunction with the Ontario Coalition of Independent Locked-In Fund Holders is to prompt the government elected on October 10th to unlock LIFs by 100% in Ontario as Saskatchewan did in 2002.
Our proposal is to allow LIF holders to unlock 50% at age 55 and the balance (or total) at 65.
Locked-In Funds are the best kept pension secret in Canada - and the most misunderstood.
Therefore, the second purpose in our campaign is to make the estimated over 450,000 Ontario LIF-holders, the general public and the media aware of what a LIF is, how it works and the obstacles that currently await Ontario LIF-holders when they want to access their pension money.
To achieve this objective a media conference was held at CARP’s National Office on September 26, 2007. CARP’s position was supported at the media conference by: - Canada’s preeminent tax expert Professor Jack Mintz, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto (“… I don’t see why [unlocking LIFs] should be any less than 100 percent …from a public policy perspective.”)
- Actuary Malcolm Hamilton, World Wide Partner Mercer (“… we can conclude with great confidence that these [locked-in] rules aren’t doing anything constructive any more.”)
- With a message from financial author and publisher Gordon Pape (“I wish to strongly support CARP’s initiative to encourage the Government of Ontario to implement 100% unlocking of the assets held in LIRAs, LIFs and other types of locked-in plans.”)
- Ontario Coalition of Independent Locked-In Fund Holders members Philip James and Bill Nafziger provided personal testimony on the adverse impact of not giving LIF-holder access to their own money
- Bill Gleberzon, CARP’s Director of Government Relations, presented CARP’s case. Their speeches and supporting documentation, including a letter of endorsement from Ontario Society (Coalition) of Senior Citizens’ Organizations and CARP’s unofficial list of 61 MPPs who accessed their Locked-In Funds 100%, are available on the LIF web page at www.carp.ca.
A precedent for unlocking LIFs 100% was set in Ontario in 1999 when 61 Ontario MPPs were enabled by legislation to unlock their Legislative pension by 100%.
Some of these 61 MPP's are running in the current campaign, including Mr. McGuinty, Mr. Sorbara, Mr. James Bradley, Mr. Hampton and Mr. Runciman -- the later two have admitted publicly that they were among the recipients of this privilege.
CARP does not begrudge these 61 MPP's the right to unlock their LIFs 100 per cent.
But the Association does greatly begrudge them denying that right to all other Ontarians.
As a non-partisan association, CARP focuses on issues, not parties or personalities. However, at this point in the current election campaign:
- the Conservatives have promised to unlock them 100%
- the NDP introduced a Private Members Bill in December, 2006 to unlock them 100% -- although the Party has not yet followed up by including that proposal in their platform
- the Liberal’s new policy to unlock LIFs by 25 per cent will take effect in January 2008. CARP’s recommends that:
- if the Conservatives win the election, they must live up to their commitment to unlock LIFs by 100 per cent soon after forming the government.
- if the NDP are elected, we trust that they will implement the Private Members’ Bill introduced last December within a short period of coming to power.
- and, if the Liberals are re-elected, we urge them to do the democratic thing and unlock LIFs by 100 per cent. Or, at the very least, they should hold extensive public consultations across the province on their new policy of unlocking LIFs by 25 per cent to determine if that is what Ontarians want done—rather than establishing their new policy by paternalistic fiat.
To sign a petition on unlocking Ontario LIFs 100 percent, go
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