Evan Solomon: Please contact me.

Re: Pension Issue:

Evan Solomon:
Host
CBC’s Power and Politics

Evan:

I just caught Mike Hornbrook on CBC talking about Canada’s looming pension problem.

I have some very interesting observations to share with you and your viewers, since I was last appeared on your show a year ago (when it was hosted by Don Newman). At that time, I was running as the Liberal candidate in the 2008 election against Jim Flaherty, hoping to extract some simple truths from Canada's Minister of Finance, and provide some better representation for the people of Whitby-Oshawa.

However, it is not in that capacity that I ask to be on your show, but rather as the head of CAITI, in which capacity I have also appeared on your (Don Newman's) show before.

You might recall that the Harper government destroyed $35 billion of Canadians’ retirement savings with their income trust policy in 2006, as well as eliminating an investment vehicle that had been widely embraced by Canadians as the means to provide themselves with retirement income, namely income trusts.

Meanwhile the government’s argument of “tax leakage” was false and their only proof took the form of 18 pages of blacked out documents. Remind you of the Afghan detainee matter at all?

Now all these trusts are being taken over by foreigners, like the recent purchase of Harvest Energy Trust for $4 billion by state owned Korean National Oil Company (KNOC). Canadians were paying taxes on Harvest’s earnings at the rate of 38%. Now KNOC will pay ZERO.

Please contact me, this is a story that needs to be told. It dramatically affects Canadians; ability to provide MUCH NEEDED retirement income, and tax revenue to an over-strapped government. The government's income trust policy was the sole result of extensive lobbying by the life insurance industry, who were intent on destroying their competition (ie income trusts) for Canadians much sought after retirement savings.

The irony of that, in retrospect, is that the products offered by the life insurance industry, unlike income trusts, divert much needed capital away from investment in Canada's real economy and only offer synthetic and/or derivatives type investments. Many of which Warren Buffett considers to be "crazy" offerings by the life insurance companies, from all vantage points.

And some of which, like Manulife's Income Plus, were improperly hedged and almost brought about the collapse of the entire company.

This is a fascinating topic on which your viewers need to be updated, in light of the major widespread concerns about pensions and retirement savings.

Brent Fullard
President and CEO
Canadian Association of Income Trust Investors
www.caiti.info

647 505-2224 (cell)