ACER-CART AGM

Respectfully submitted by Bill Cann

The ACER-CART AGM was a very interesting and stimulating experience, which left me humbled by the amazing work being done for retired teachers by our national organization as well as those in our sister provinces and territories. I have decided to structure my report around the following bold faced themes:

On the afternoon of June 11, 2017, a pre-AGM orientation for new ACER-CART directors and observers was conducted by Executive Director Roger Régimbal. It focused on the structure, roles and priorities of ACER-CART.

Bill C-27

The orientation session was followed by two presentations on Bill C-27, both of which are available from the RTAM Executive Director.

Bernard Dussault, Consulting Actuary for the C.D. Howe Institute presented a very interesting Counterproposal to Bill C-27. He uses the analogy of being a pension doctor who recommends treating a pension with lack of sustainability (due to equity, affordability, solvency and cost fluctuation issues) with two vaccines: 1. Financing Policy based on: Ongoing valuation basis as opposed to the solvency basis which produces overly volatile and conservative actuarial valuation results; No

Asset Smoothing; Realistic steady long term assumptions; No Contingency Reserve; and

Amortization of any Surplus or Debt over 15 years. 2. Guideline for DB Pension Plan Design based on: Pensionable age set in reference to calendar year of birth not subject to age/ service-related reduction rules; Same Survivor Benefits for both single and married members; and Pension Formulas based on career-average price or wage-indexed earnings.

Mark Janson, Senior Pensions Officer, CUPE, offered a presentation on Myths about “Shared Risk” Pension Plans. In addition to providing the background information from the 2012 Pension law amendments in New Brunswick, Mark challenges the main arguments used to promote Shared Risk plans: • Shared Risk plans place the burden of risk on plan member through possible contribution increases, failure to provide indexation and possible unlimited cuts to benefits. • There are no benefit guarantees in a Shared Risk plan. All benefits, including base benefits (for both past and future service) can be reduced without limit. • Shared Risk plans are not a compromise. They accomplish all employer goals at the expense of plan members. • Small changes in complex economic models resulted in huge result changes. CUPE’s analysis indicates that government statistics are a best case scenario, oversold security and downplayed risk shifting. • CUPE maintains that it is wrong in principle to retroactively change pension promises to active members and retirees. The best security for workers and retirees remains a legal Defined

Benefit guarantee.

National Public Drug Program for All

Timed presentations from both the Canadian Health Coalition and Johnson Inc. stressed the need to develop a national public drug plan which would provide prescription drugs to all Canadians in a fair and equal manner, with oversight and some funding by the federal government. Canada is the only country in the world with public health care but no matching national drug plan. This leaves one in every ten Canadians unable to afford prescribed medications. Only a third of Canadians are covered by public drug plans which vary from province to province. Most are covered partially through their workplace by private insurance plans that are expensive and often unreliable. A drug manufactured and vetted in Canada sold in Canada at $30 per capita and in New Zealand at $1.06 per capita. Recent research has shown that a national public drug plan could save the Federal Government as much as $11 billion annually.The Canadian Health Coalition website can be accessed at pharmacarenow.ca

National Health Care Strategy for Seniors

ACER-CART Past President, Jo-Ann Lauber, outlined the history and efforts by many organizations and individuals to develop the Declaration Concerning a National Health Care Strategy for Seniors. RTAM has endorsed this declaration and has posted it on our website.

Membership Recruitment

Both Ontario and Alberta have significantly increased membership by making their group insurance plan available to employees and retirees from other members of the educational community, such as child care, educational assistants, school boards, colleges and universities. These individuals enjoy full benefits along with associate memberships.

Highlights from Across Canada

During the member reports, ACER-CART President Brian Kenny frequently remarked on the similarities of the challenges faced by provincial organizations and on the uniqueness of the many attempted solutions. Here are a few highlights from those reports; • Only Newfoundland and Prince Edward

Island have representatives as Group Insurance

Trustees. • SERFNB is distributing its magazine Entre

Nous electronically by email at a saving of thousands of dollars annually. Individual members may still elect to receive paper copies. • In the spring of 2016, the Nova Scotia

Department of Seniors began a wide-ranging project to recognize the contributions seniors provide and to help government integrate new thinking about older persons and their contribution to the province. Fifty recommendations were included in the publication SHIFT – Action Plan for an Aging

Population. • A very effective political advocacy strategy is to request members who are currently making annual contributions to political parties to notify the party that future donations will be withheld until Bill C-27 is withdrawn or defeated and until a National Public Drug Plan is established. ¡