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, March 27, 2007

Andrea Speaks out in the legislature


Excerpt from hansard
Official Record of the Ontario Legislature

MEMBER’S STATEMENT
Wednesday, December 20, 2006

It’s time the McGuinty government allowed Ontario’s 1.7 million seniors to unlock their locked-in pensions. Bill 175, my private members bill, would allow seniors to withdraw up to 100 per cent of their locked-in pension funds. This one measure would instantly add to our seniors’ financial independence and quality of life at no cost to the taxpayer.

CARP, Canada’s Association for the Fifty-Plus, supports my bill "100 per cent".
Bill 175 would unlock the vault of pension savings that McGuinty Liberal MPPs are withholding from locked-in pensioners while they themselves care for themselves and their own life savings plans.

I’m sure many people would be surprised to learn that once pensions are locked-in, it is virtually impossible for Ontario seniors to access their money. Only at age 90 can seniors withdraw their funds completely. Until then, they are limited to scant withdrawals of 2.5 to 6.2 per cent of the principal.

Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick and the federal government have already changed their laws to enable seniors to access some, or all, of their locked-in pensions. But in Ontario, only 61 MPPs have the freedom to unlock their pensions. For everyone else, these pensions are locked tight, cannot be withdrawn except in dire financial circumstances and only with government approval.

Why should our seniors have to put up their hand and ask permission to access their own money, which they saved up over a lifetime of hard work?

Unlike the McGuinty Liberals, I trust seniors to manage their own money. Let’s unlock pensions in Ontario for our seniors. They have worked hard all their lives and deserve to reap the fruits of their contributions. Seniors deserve the right to access and control their locked-in pensions and the McGuinty government should respect that right.
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