Two very important Bills aimed at amending the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) and the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) are currently before the House Of Commons. SSPO and the Canadian Federation Of Pensioners supports these measures and urges you to add your support by urging The Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry Canada to expedite passage of these Bills.
House Of Commons Private Member’s Public Bill – C-476
An Act to amend the
Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and other Acts (unfunded pension plan
liabilities)
Sponsored by Wayne Marston (Hamilton-East-Stoney Creek)
Senate Public Bill – S-295
An Act to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and other Acts (unfunded pension plan liabilities)
Sponsored by Senator Pierrette Ringuette
The following letter has been sent by SSPO to The Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry Canada, urging him to expedite passage of these bills. The SSPO Board urges our members to do likewise. Use ideas or excerpts from this letter to formulate your letter to the Honourable Minister. Or contact him by e-mail.
Click Here for contact information for the Hon Tony Clement, Minister of Industry Canada.
Stel Salaried Pensioners Organization
2-558
Upper Gage Ave., Suite 146
Hamilton,
Ontario
L8V 4J6
January 26,
2010
The
Honourable Tony Clement
Minister of
Industry Canada
Ottawa,
Ont.
Subject: Amend the BIA/CCAA for Pension
Protection
Dear Minister
Clement;
The Stel
Salaried Pensioners Organization Inc. (SSPO) is an association of pensioners
that represented approximately 5000 salaried retirees during Stelco’s CCAA
proceedings in 2004 and remains active today protecting the pensions and
benefits of the salaried retirees of the former Stelco Inc., now United States
Steel Canada (USSC). SSPO is also a founding member of the Canadian Federation
of Pensioners (CFP).
We are
writing to urge you to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) and the
Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) to insure and protect pensions and
pension funds. Having been threatened with the same outcome, we are sympathetic
to the pensioners of Nortel and Fraser Paper who are in real danger of losing a
large percentage of their pensions. They are just the latest victims of
companies that have invoked the BIA/CCAA to wind-up their pension plans with
large unfunded liabilities. The
pensioners that have been, and could be affected number in the hundreds of thousands.
The BIA/CCAA
nullifies all laws, acts and regulations put in place to protect pensions and
pension funds. It is difficult to comprehend how such an outdated and extremely
unfair Act can still be in place in a highly democratic country like Canada in
2010.
Pensions are
earned by employees on an equal basis with wages, and are an obligation that
employers make as a condition of employment. Many employees (as we did) made
large monetary contributions into their pension funds along with the employer.
Also, at the point of retirement a pension is a legal contract between the
sponsor and the pensioner. Most pension plan funds are set up as legal trusts
and therefore are not part of company operations.
Considering
the above, SSPO believes that pension funds should be exempt from BIA/CCAA
proceedings and placed in a temporary Pension Fund Insurance Trust. When the
company exits from BIA/CCAA the restructured or new company can then deal with
any pension plan unfunded liability according to the laws, acts, and
regulations of the province of registry.
Minister, you
have the opportunity to insure and protect pensions and pension funds by
amending the BIA/CCAA under your government’s current Federal Pension Reform
Legislation. We urge you to take action on this very serious matter. Should you
choose not to take the above method of resolution, we would ask you and your
colleagues to support MP Wayne Marston’s Bill
C-476 and Senator Ringuette’s Bill
S-245 that propose to move pension plans to the top of the creditors
list in BIA/CCAA proceedings.
Thank you for
your consideration.
Gary W.
Dallin
President
Stel
Salaried Pension Organization