tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141615629701321642.post5921219821725144274..comments2024-01-07T08:41:13.864-05:00Comments on C A I T I - O N L I N E: Jim Leech, C D Howe, hypocrites extraordinaire, don’t speak for 75% of CanadiansBrent Fullardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08515599756822506137noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141615629701321642.post-52939328764062825172009-05-25T11:36:24.983-04:002009-05-25T11:36:24.983-04:00What this country lacks is leaders with Character....What this country lacks is leaders with Character. If Jim Leech and the leaders of C.D. Howe apologize for what they did wouldn't that be a wonderful display of character?Robert Bertuzzinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141615629701321642.post-40292472275874759572009-05-25T10:47:51.470-04:002009-05-25T10:47:51.470-04:00Over 70% of Canadians do not belong to defined ben...Over 70% of Canadians do not belong to defined benefit pension funds. Neverheless when you read the press you have the impression that the governments sole focus is about addressing the problems of the defined benefit pension funds. There is a lot of concern expressed about retirement savings of pensionless people, i.e., the great majority of Canadians. Much is said about them but nothing is done to help them, On the contrary they are seen at best as a milk cow by the governments and as people who can be mistreated as we saw with the ITs. Why is this?<br /> <br />As usual the answer lies in politics. The pension funds are well organized and financed and carry a lot of weight with the governments and large corporations. They controlled billions and billions of dollars and are connected with powerful unions like Teachers" in Ontario and OMERS. Look at how the GM pensioneers are pampered at the expense of the taxpayers compared the the IT investors whose retirement savings have been decimated. Pension funds are even feared by politicians. The main reason given to me by John McCallum to continue the double taxation of dividends in RRSP/RRIF is that pension funds would ask for the same. Read: "I don't want to pick a fight with pension funds"! On the other side we have a mass of totally non-organised individuals who try (in most cases unsuccessfully) to save for retirement. They have no mass as they are atomistic and they carry no political weight. Individuals feel totally powerless and unable to mount serious pressure on the politicians. They cannot fight with their bare fists. While their problems are well known they are ignored by politicians. Brent has been trying very hard to organize the IT investors but so far we have had no real tangible results with the politicians. The Liberals paid some attention but I suspect that their interest had more to do with being in opposition than about the fate of IT investors. The vast majority of IT investors are individuals who count for nothing in the eyes of the government. The Income Fund Associations were no match for the big corporations like Manulife and Power Corp and the big pension funds that sided with Harper.<br /> <br />YFAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141615629701321642.post-51820229259839503082009-05-25T10:37:43.717-04:002009-05-25T10:37:43.717-04:00Typical isn`t it!!
Those who have the juice have ...Typical isn`t it!!<br /><br />Those who have the juice have the ear of the gov`t--push a button or two & the brass ring belongs to them.<br /><br />To the rest of us goes the Meow Mix.<br /><br />Dr Mike Popovich<br /><br />PS---When will the people of Canada wise-up to the fact that these politicians could not care less about individual citizens when it comes to financial matters.<br /><br />Power Corp & Manulife control what happens in this country as they always have & probably always will<br /><br />The rest of us can go eat worms & die as long as pay , pay & pay some more.Dr Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16915911929286615081noreply@blogger.com