Presented by Hassan Yussuff on Monday, 29 November 2010

(Check against delivery)

Sisters and brothers, I am pleased to bring you greetings of solidarity from the Canadian Labour Congress and its 3.2 million members, on behalf of Ken Georgetti.

He regrets he is unable to be here today, but we want to thank your president, Gil McGowan, for inviting us and for your Federation’s very strong support for the CLC’s campaign to give all Canadians retirement security.

But I have some bad news for Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach – there is nothing, literally nothing that even the CLC plan can do...to prevent his early retirement!

It’s yet another reason, though, why Premier Stelmach should join with us and support dramatically improving retirement security for all Albertans.

I’m extremely pleased that the AFL has organized this pension summit – because it will be very helpful in advancing what I believe is the most important campaign the Canadian Labour Congress has launched in decades – the fight for retirement security for all Canadian workers.

And, sadly, Alberta is the one province most opposed to making the changes to our Canada Pension Plan that the federal government and other provinces actually want to see happen.

More importantly still, Alberta is the only province that is going against the overwhelming wishes of its own people...by fighting CPP reform...and by defending the indefensible.

Alberta is backing up the big banks and insurance companies who want to protect their windfall profits made through the sale of overpriced retirement investment schemes like RRSPs.

But they won’t succeed – Albertans like you and your members won’t let them.

And with good reason, sisters and brothers, with good reason.

Because Albertans are like far too many other Canadians.

The prospect of retirement actually scares them – they see ahead of them not their golden years...but poverty fears.

And even more sadly, they are right to be afraid.

Today more than 1.6 million Canadian seniors are living in poverty, with income below $16,000 a year.

Here in Alberta we know that the average Canada Pension Plan benefit paid to retirees is just $511.30 – that’s only $6,100 a year.

What a shameful situation for the people who built this great province and this wonderful country!

So what is the answer?

Well it’s definitely not RRSPs!

Billions of dollars were lost in three major stock market meltdowns over 15 years – in 1997, 2002 and 2008.

Those financial meltdowns were caused by corporate greed and the failure of governments to regulate banks, financial institutions and corporations.

That has made average Canadians unwilling to gamble with their retirement security by placing losing bets on Wall Street and Bay Street.

And they are especially unwilling to turn over an average 2.5% investment management fee – among the highest in the world – just to watch their money go down the drain.

That’s part of the reason why only 1 in 3 Canadians bought RRSPs in 2009...and just 30% of Albertans in 2008.

And one-third of Canadian workers between the ages of 24 and 64 have absolutely no personal retirement savings. None.

Even those with an RRSP will get under $300 a month at retirement, on average.

As people in this room know – thanks to your Federation spreading the word – when it comes to retirement security, Alberta's situation is actually the worst in Canada.

Albertans will only be able to replace 45% of their pre-retirement income when they retire, compared to the 70% the experts recommend say is needed.

Meanwhile, the 38.5% of the workers who actually have pensions – like people in this room – are under attack.

We just saw a vicious example of this in Sudbury against Vale-Inco workers, who were on strike for a year fighting pension concessions.

Everywhere employers are scrapping defined benefits pension plans and replacing them with defined contribution plans or RRSPs – which both have the same high risks as the markets.

It’s a grim picture.

Fortunately, the CLC has a better plan – we want to double Canada Pension Plan benefits for all workers.

If we phase in a small premium increase over 7 years, it would result in a doubling of maximum benefits – to $1,635 a month.

That would raise the basic pension floor for all workers from a poverty level of $12,000 a year to a far more liveable $20,000.

The reasons why improving the Canada Pension Plan is the best solution are clear – the CPP is universal, it’s portable – it goes with you, not your job – and it covers 93% of workers.

Given the fact that in this new and precarious economy many workers will likely have several different employers in multiple locations during their career, the CLC proposal is the way to go.

It not only meets the needs of workers who don’t have a pension plan or RRSPs but it also provides a better retirement base for those of us who do have pensions.

With the CLC plan, a worker who is 28 today and works full-time from now until retirement at age 65 – that means 37 years of expanded contributions – would earn a monthly CPP payment of about $1,772.

But under the existing CPP without any improvements, the same worker's monthly CPP payment would only be about $886.

That’s a huge difference– our proposal literally doubles the income.

Is it too expensive for workers? No.

Just pennies an hour.

For a worker earning $47,200 or more per year, the cost of doubling future CPP benefits works out to less than a dime an hour in the first year of our proposal, to a maximum of 63 cents an hour when fully phased in after seven years.

That buys retirement security for life - which is priceless.

And it's even less for those who don't earn the maximum earnings that CPP premiums are based on.

The CLC plan still helps older workers who are approaching retirement age.

With our plan, a worker who is 58 today and works full-time from now until retirement at age 65 would get an extra $160 a month in CPP – that will make a real difference.

Best of all – we are already achieving significant progress in convincing governments to accept a CPP expansion plan.

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and a majority of provincial finance ministers have said they support expanding the Canada Pension Plan.

They have not yet signed on to the CLC plan to double CPP benefits, but it is a welcome start.

We also have the strong backing of Canadian mayors and councillors, who passed a resolution calling for pension reform nearly identical to the CLC plan at this year’s Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention.

Our plan has been endorsed by Monica Townson, one of Canada’s leading pension experts.

And the CLC plan has been costed out by Bernard Dussault – one of your impressive guest speakers here – who was Chief Actuary of the CPP and Old Age Security program from 1992 to 1997 and who says it is entirely do-able.

But we are not there yet – not by far.

The Alberta government is leading the opposition to expanding the CPP, as I mentioned and as you know.

Premier Stelmach is simply not representing Albertans when he refuses to listen to their needs.

The polling is clear – we’ve done it.

An October poll by Environics found that Albertans overwhelmingly support improving the CPP, with 73% supporting improved benefits.

In addition, recent polling by Strategic Communications shows that three-quarters of Albertans polled don’t trust the banks, insurance companies or mutual fund companies to put people’s interests above industry profits.

And two-thirds disagree with Alberta’s proposal to let the banks take the lead by offering individual savings options for retirement rather than expanding the CPP.

That’s why this Pension Summit in Alberta is so important, why the work your Federation of Labour is doing is so vital.

We need all of your help to convince every federal and provincial politician that a minor increase in the CPP is not enough to protect Canadians' retirement income and that RRSPs are no solution.

We need to implement the CLC plan and double the benefits to succeed.

And there is much more we must achieve.

Those 1.6 million seniors currently trapped in poverty need an immediate 15% increase to the Guaranteed Income Supplement benefits.

That would give them a liveable income.

We also need federal pension insurance – to protect our workplace plans.

We insure our lives, our homes, our vehicles and our jobs – but not our pensions!

That just doesn’t make sense – and it’s time for the federal government to act.

So sisters and brothers - this is our time – our moment to make the most sweeping positive change seen in Canada since Tommy Douglas introduced Medicare in Saskatchewan and transformed the nation.

It’s time to protect every worker in Canada so they can retire with dignity and security.

And I know that with your strong support – we can do it – we can win!

Thank you for inviting me and have a great conference.