Have no fear pensioners, Erin O’Toole is here!.Leader of the Opposition Erin O’Toole said yesterday if elected, a Conservative cabinet would rework federal law to give preference “to pensioners in bankruptcy court settlements,” according to Blacklock’s Reporter..Interestingly, the Bloc Québécois proposed a similar bill which lapsed in the last Parliament — despite receiving support from the Canadian Labour Congress..O’Toole sympathized with pension workers, saying “far too often we’ve seen workers through no fault of their own forced to take big cuts to their pension when the company they work for goes bankrupt. This needs to change.”.As a remedy, O’Toole proposed changes to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act in order to give pensioners preferential status over other creditors — including banks..O’Toole hopes to target executives to prevent them from “paying themselves large bonuses while managing a company going through restructuring if the pension isn’t properly funded. It’s that simple.”.Bill C-253, An Act To Amend The Bankruptcy And Insolvency Act proposed similar action, with unions petitioning the Commons’ industry committee to endorse the bill..The Department of Finance calculated the measure to benefit approximately 1.2 million private sector workers with defined benefit plans..Dominic Lemieux, a director with the United Steelworkers, asked at June 1 in-committee hearings for members to “think about our pensioners, our most vulnerable in society, our elderly.”.Then-president of the Canadian Labour Congress, Hassan Yussuff, said “workers and pensioners should be first in line, not last, when it comes to paying creditors.”.Yussuff said the Act in its current state penalizes pensioners “through no fault of their own,” during one of the most high stress, vulnerable periods of their lives..“We think that is something fundamentally wrong,” said Yussuff. “What we see from time and time again is employers will not make their contribution or allow their pension fund to not meet obligations,” Yussuff said..Yussuff also pointed out the unfairness of creditors and banks getting to jump over pensioners in companies’ bankruptcy queues..Then-Industry Minister Navdeep Bains told reporters in 2017 “there is no plan” to appease pensioners’ advocates who had repeatedly attempted to get the Act rewritten since 1975..On June 1, 2020 — with economic uncertainties running rampant as the nation attempted to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic — Labour Minister Filomena Tassi said during testimony at the Commons human resources committee through the act cabinet would “absolutely ensure pensions are protected.”.NDP MP Scott Duvall asked if the government will fix the laws “to protect workers’ and pensioners’ rights?” Minister Tassi replied amendments have already been made and will continue to be made..“We want to absolutely ensure that pensions are protected,” Tassi said..Canada is no stranger to pensioners being left out in the cold in the wake of companies going belly-up and filing for bankruptcy. During the 2017 closure of Sears Canada the company left a $266.8 million shortfall in pensions for approximately 18,000 retirees. Payments were reduced by 30%..The 2015 bankruptcy filing of Cliff Natural Resources Inc. out of Cleveland saw 1,700 pensioners in Québec and Labrador “lose a quarter of benefits.”.At the time, Cliff Natural Resources had a $28 million pension deficit at the time..Bloc Québécois MP Marilène Gill, sponsor of Bill C-253, described Cliff Natural Resources’ treatment of their Canadian employees as “a disaster.” On May 25 Gill told the Commons industry “the basic principle is that pensions are deferred wages.”.Gill committed to O’Toole’s pensioner-protection efforts, saying “I am not elected by banks. I am elected by workers and citizens.”.Jackie Conroy is a reporter for the Western Standard.jconroy@westernstandardonline.com
Have no fear pensioners, Erin O’Toole is here!.Leader of the Opposition Erin O’Toole said yesterday if elected, a Conservative cabinet would rework federal law to give preference “to pensioners in bankruptcy court settlements,” according to Blacklock’s Reporter..Interestingly, the Bloc Québécois proposed a similar bill which lapsed in the last Parliament — despite receiving support from the Canadian Labour Congress..O’Toole sympathized with pension workers, saying “far too often we’ve seen workers through no fault of their own forced to take big cuts to their pension when the company they work for goes bankrupt. This needs to change.”.As a remedy, O’Toole proposed changes to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act in order to give pensioners preferential status over other creditors — including banks..O’Toole hopes to target executives to prevent them from “paying themselves large bonuses while managing a company going through restructuring if the pension isn’t properly funded. It’s that simple.”.Bill C-253, An Act To Amend The Bankruptcy And Insolvency Act proposed similar action, with unions petitioning the Commons’ industry committee to endorse the bill..The Department of Finance calculated the measure to benefit approximately 1.2 million private sector workers with defined benefit plans..Dominic Lemieux, a director with the United Steelworkers, asked at June 1 in-committee hearings for members to “think about our pensioners, our most vulnerable in society, our elderly.”.Then-president of the Canadian Labour Congress, Hassan Yussuff, said “workers and pensioners should be first in line, not last, when it comes to paying creditors.”.Yussuff said the Act in its current state penalizes pensioners “through no fault of their own,” during one of the most high stress, vulnerable periods of their lives..“We think that is something fundamentally wrong,” said Yussuff. “What we see from time and time again is employers will not make their contribution or allow their pension fund to not meet obligations,” Yussuff said..Yussuff also pointed out the unfairness of creditors and banks getting to jump over pensioners in companies’ bankruptcy queues..Then-Industry Minister Navdeep Bains told reporters in 2017 “there is no plan” to appease pensioners’ advocates who had repeatedly attempted to get the Act rewritten since 1975..On June 1, 2020 — with economic uncertainties running rampant as the nation attempted to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic — Labour Minister Filomena Tassi said during testimony at the Commons human resources committee through the act cabinet would “absolutely ensure pensions are protected.”.NDP MP Scott Duvall asked if the government will fix the laws “to protect workers’ and pensioners’ rights?” Minister Tassi replied amendments have already been made and will continue to be made..“We want to absolutely ensure that pensions are protected,” Tassi said..Canada is no stranger to pensioners being left out in the cold in the wake of companies going belly-up and filing for bankruptcy. During the 2017 closure of Sears Canada the company left a $266.8 million shortfall in pensions for approximately 18,000 retirees. Payments were reduced by 30%..The 2015 bankruptcy filing of Cliff Natural Resources Inc. out of Cleveland saw 1,700 pensioners in Québec and Labrador “lose a quarter of benefits.”.At the time, Cliff Natural Resources had a $28 million pension deficit at the time..Bloc Québécois MP Marilène Gill, sponsor of Bill C-253, described Cliff Natural Resources’ treatment of their Canadian employees as “a disaster.” On May 25 Gill told the Commons industry “the basic principle is that pensions are deferred wages.”.Gill committed to O’Toole’s pensioner-protection efforts, saying “I am not elected by banks. I am elected by workers and citizens.”.Jackie Conroy is a reporter for the Western Standard.jconroy@westernstandardonline.com
