President's Message

Bill Cann

RTAM President 2021 - 2022

RETIRED TEACHERS’

ASSOCIATION OF MANITOBA

President's Message

There have been several important developments since the Spring issue of KIT. I remain indebted to the Executive Officers, Executive Director, Office staff, individual Directors, Standing Committee members and Chapter Presidents for their valued assistance in successfully addressing emergent issues and moving our organization ahead.

First, I would like to thank all RTAM members for their continued support as I enter my second term as your President. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Joan Dawson, the AGM Committee, the Office staff, and our Independent Chair Dorothy Young for successfully organizing and managing RTAM’s 32nd Annual General Meeting. I welcome Hélène Beauchemin and Dave Najduch as new Directors. I wish to thank retiring Directors Joan Dawson, Brian Patterson, and Doreen Sage for their years of dedicated service on the RTAM Board. May you each enjoy many years of good health and happiness as you begin your next chapter of retirement.

Relations with MTS:

1. The RTAM Executive continued improving its relationships with outside organizations. When the initial registration for the March 6th

Pre-Retirement seminars was only 10 people, I suggested that the Office request advertising assistance from both the Manitoba Teachers’ Society (MTS) and the Manitoba Association of School Superintendents (MASS).

Both organizations responded with great support and were largely

responsible for significantly increasing the number of active teachers who attended. There were 48 participants at the March 6 and 59 participants at the March 20 seminars. Thank you letters from the RTAM President were sent to both organizations. 2. On March 25, RTAM Vice President

JoAnne Hoyak and I participated in the 4th MTS/RTAM Liaison meeting.

We addressed the following issues: requested a joint committee to study how to change the Teachers’

Pension Act to better reflect the impact of inflation on the annual

COLA grant; MTS recognition of

RTAM as the official voice of retired teachers; and Bill 64 Positions. 3. On April 10, I addressed the MTS

Local Association Presidents on RTAM’s new Free First-Year

Membership initiative as well as the benefits of joining RTAM to access our Prestige Travel Insurance.

Copies of RTAM’s Bill 64 Position,

Benefits at a Glance and Travel

Insurance Checklist were provided for distribution. 4. MTS president James Bedford and

I maintain regular communication on developments concerning Bill 64 and other emergent issues affecting our two organizations.

Relations with TRAF:

1. On March 19, the RTAM Executive participated in a Zoom meeting with Jeff Norton (President and CEO) and Brad Prokop (Vice President, Pensions).

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The main topics covered were 1.1 An update on Government’s decision to move ahead with the Centralization of Pension Investment Management. 1.2 The 1996-2021 Bank of Canada Inflation calculator of 57.05% compared to the

COLA grants of 27.44%. Inflation. The loss of pension purchasing power is 29.61 % over 25 years or 1.1844% per year. 1.3 It is now clear that the only way to improve the annual COLA grant is to lobby the Government to amend the legislation governing the Teacher’s

Pension Act. It was also pointed out that Bill 45 (Sales Report, 2007) actually had a positive impact on COLA, contrary to popular belief. 2. On April 16, Brad Prokop informed me that

TRAF would make a generous donation of $5 per registrant to help with the mailing costs for the

RTAM AGM.

Relations with Political Parties:

1. On March 2, the RTAM Executive held a

Zoom meeting with New Democratic Party

MLAs: Wab Kinew (Leader of the Opposition),

Nello Altomare (Education critic) and Uzoma

Asagwana (Health critic). They were very supportive of RTAM’s concerns, especially of a seat on the TRAF Board, Long Term Care facilities and Universal National Pharmacare. 2. On April 12, I drafted cover letters on RTAM’s Bill 64 Position to the Premier, Minister Cullen, Wab

Kinew, Nello Altomare and Dougald Lamont.

The Office staff typed them on letterhead, attached a copy of the Bill 64 Position and sent them by courier to the Manitoba Legislature. 3. On April 21, the Executive and Pension Chair

Alison Logan had a very productive meeting with liberal Party MLAs Dougald Lamont (Party

Leader), John Gerrard, and Cindy Lamoureau (Education critic). RTAM’s positions on Bill 64, official legislative recognition, a seat on the TRAF

Board, Long Term Care, Vaccine management and

Substitute teacher working conditions during the pandemic were discussed. 4. A similar virtual meeting has been rescheduled with Education Minister Cliff Cullen and Deputy Minister Dana Rudy on May 19,2021.

Executive Actions:

1. At its March 8 meeting, The Executive approved in principle a contract proposal for website services with Gayl Punzalan of Blue Ink

Media. Much credit for the many and on-going improvements to the RTAM website are due to the dedication of Denise Bellesia (RTAM Office

Manager), Joan Dawson (Website committee

Chair) and Gayl Punzalan (Blue Ink Media). 2. On March 29, the Executive meeting focused on completing the website contract with

Blue Ink Media, RTAM’s Bill 64 Position, the

COLA/Inflation situation, the membership database and a number of time management improvements for Board meetings. 3. On April 08 the Board of Directors unanimously approved RTAM’s Position on Bill 64. A copy of this document was distributed to Chapter

Presidents, posted on the RTAM website and will be printed in the Summer edition of KIT . It was also sent, along with a cover letter, to the leaders of Manitoba’s political parties. 4. On April 12, Gerry Tiede, ACER-CART President, informed me by phone that the Federal

Election brochure was completed but would be distributed to provincial members in electronic pdf format due to Coronavirus restrictions. He requested RTAM decide if the $5000 donation for printing was to be returned or reallocated to another national advocacy program such as

Pharmacare or Long-Term Care. 5. On April 20, Treasurer Pat Bowslaugh and I reviewed with the Executive Director, the draft 2021-2022 RTAM budget in preparation for the

AGM. On April 29th it was decided to email the revised 2021-2022 Budget to AGM registrants.

The May 7th Chapter Presidents’ agenda and attached documents were also sent to the Office for distribution.

My thanks to RTAM members for your continued support as I begin my second term as your president.