Pension discrimination has to change

By Letter to the Editor on February 20, 2019.

MP Glen Motz appears to have listed the CPC platform for the upcoming federal election, but he excluded two important issues – supply management and pension reform. Apparently they are not in the “public good.”

He is not interested in promoting a pension benefit for private-sector workers without a pension plan which is even a little similar to his pension as a retired public-sector worker, guaranteed and generously funded by the taxpayers.

The provincial government announced that public-sector workers will have joint governance of their government-sponsored pension plan. And, nothing again for the private-sector workers.

No level of government will even respond to questions why they fund generously pensions for the public-sector workers, but they all ignore the growing pension crisis of private-sector workers. Maybe the communication has been inappropriate. It needs a different approach.

Assume that public-sector workers are “white workers” and private-sector workers without a pension plan are “black workers.” In this instance, the pension plans are substituted with buses, which take workers to and from their workplace. The white workers are transported by these buses, but the black workers can’t even ride at the back of the bus. They must find their own way.

These black workers must pay their taxes to help purchase these buses. They must have the right features: Modern comforts (soft, warm seats and a washroom), a state-of-the-art entertainment system and a ventilation system suitable for summer and winter. Their taxes must also pay for the drivers, for the fuel and for the cost of cleaning and maintaining these vehicles. These white workers will also co-manage these buses, and this role will be protected by legislation.

The issues facing transportation for the black workers, well, they just don’t get any attention. When some black workers get up the nerve to question why the disparities, they learn very quickly that they are out of order. Their concerns are ignored. They will be lectured sternly that busing is a benefit only for the white workers. The black workers just don’t qualify. This is the way. And, the audacity to question is not appreciated.

The black workers continue to stumble along as best as they can. Of course, they are disappointed and frustrated, but they have to realize that changing attitudes and especially government policies take a long time. Even changes in government leadership does not make a difference. They are reminded that other black workers lived through many years before they could ride the buses in the same way as white workers.

Canadian government policies are continued with much discrimination: A fudged federal welfare program in equalization, a graduated income tax system, so-called disadvantaged groups in the administration of justice, employment quota systems, government rebates (the carbon tax)/grants/subsidies and even in trade. Many college/university graduates diligently repay their government loans, but the unpaid loans of other graduates are just written off. Pensions, another example of this Canadian way.

Larry Samcoe

Medicine Hat

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