Recently, I emailed the Prime Minister's office about the proposed changes to the Canadian Old Age Security system. For any non-Canadian, it is an additional pension supplement that compliments the Canada Pension Plan which is the general pension people can apply for and receive currently at the age of 65. However, that might be changing but we do not know yet. Following is my open letter to the Prime Minister about my concerns and criticism of how he is handling the pension reform debate. I encourage any Canadian citizen to email their MP or the Prime Minister's office with their concerns. They are certainly not providing the media with any information. You can reach the Prime Minister of Canada at
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
E-mail: pm@pm.gc.ca
If you live in Canada look up your local MP (Member of Parliament) in the phone book or information fliers they sometimes send or online by using your Postal Code (zip code to anyone living in the US and for anyone in Europe it is different for each country).
Without further ado, please scroll down and read my letter.
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So, you, the Conservative Party, want to reform the entire pension system of Canada. You don't tell us about this when you're in the country but inform us of such a change while in Switzerland. That seems very cowardly to me. Your boss, the PM is our elected national leader and pensions are a domestic issue and should appeal to your domestic audience and not from a financial forum in a foreign country. Then it emerges that the only part of the pension system that you intend to reform in some fashion is on the old age security supplement system. You won't tell us how it will be reformed until the budget comes out leading any current or future low income senior citizen to wonder about the impact of such changes on their present or future income. Today, Feb. 2/12, the Finance Minister says the ENTIRE Canadian pension system is being looked at for possible changes. That is a completely new statement. I might mention that the Finance Minister broke the news while he was in Israel. What's with you guys? Both major media statements delivered from international locations and not at home for domestic consumption... again.
I am not a fan of these extremely scripted responses from Ministers and MP's saying that you are keeping the system sustainable. And your second mostly popular response to media inquiries is the no one needs to worry about the Canada Pension Plan as it has perfectly sound funding. Then there is the Flaherty comment of today about reviewing the entire pension system and not just the old age security. YOU ARE SPOOKING MANY GENERATIONS HERE. WHEN DO FIND OUT WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON? THIS IS NOT A VOTE WINNER!
Very concerned but pissed off citizen.
Have a nice day.
