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Retirement Security for everyone!

Canada is at a crossroads, just like it was forty years ago when it was time to do something about our health care system. Today, we need to do something about retirement income, and we need to do it soon.

For an entire generation, wages have not kept pace with the cost of living, raising a family and saving for a long and healthy retirement. Too many Canadians have not managed to save what they need. Even when we have had some extra money to tuck away, the RRSPs and Mutual Funds we were told to buy failed to deliver what they promised. Our retirement income system is leaving too many people behind.  We can continue to fend for ourselves, which means saving for retirement is something that only a few of us will ever manage to do and poverty among seniors will once again become the norm. Or we can change a few things.

All that's needed is some leadership from the federal government. Which is why we need you to tell your Member of Parliament that you support the Canadian Labour Congress' campaign for "Retirement Security for everyone!"  We made Canada a better country when we moved forward together and created a health care system that works for everyone. Let's do it again and give every Canadian the chance to retire from work and live their last years in dignity.

Send this message to your MP today.

The following message will be sent with your signature and personal message below:

 I support the Canadian Labour Congress' plan for RETIREMENT SECURITY FOR EVERYONE!

Too many Canadians, even those with jobs in today's economy, are wondering if and when they can ever retire. We have good reason for concern.

Over the past few years, major faults in our retirement income system have been exposed. Too many people are falling through these cracks. Too many Canadians are being left behind. By taking action today, we can ensure that the hundreds of thousands of workers who reach retirement age in the coming decades can live their final years in comfort and dignity.

The CLC is proposing three key reforms that would benefit all Canadians, improve income retirement security and gear Canada's pension system to better fit the needs of a changing economy.

Doubling Canada Pension Plan benefits through a gradual increase in CPP contributions would ensure a better minimum pension for all Canadians and provide a significant boost to retirement security for everyone.

Old Age Security (including the Guaranteed Income Supplement) is falling short of what seniors need to maintain a decent standard of living. The CLC's affordable and reasonable call for a 15% increase in the GIS would immediately lift the vast majority of seniors above the poverty line.

Recent events have also made it obvious that Canada needs a pension insurance program to protect retirement savings and pension contributions, just like we currently have to protect the money in our bank accounts.

More RRSPs are not the answer. For years we've been told they were the answer to our retirement needs – but they have failed us. Rather than spending money to help the banks sell us products that don't work, it's time to invest in retirement security that works for everyone.

Business as usual is also not the answer to this looming problem. The social and economic cost of letting more people fall into poverty in their old age is far higher than the modest proposals the CLC puts forward. The sheer size of the baby boom generation that will begin to reach retirement age over the next few years demands that something be done.

People should not be left to fend for themselves in retirement. It’s time for a change in emphasis toward public pensions and toward greater security for people who belong to existing employer plans.

I call on you to support the CLC's plan and to urge your colleagues in the House of Commons to do the same.

Sincerely,

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