From ACER-CART
Submitted by Marilyn Bossert | ACER-CART Regional Representative West
Excerpts from President Tiede ’ s 2020 ARTA AGM Presentation
It may come as a surprise but you are all members of ACER-CART by virtue of your membership in ARTA . All together , we have about 170,000 members across Canada .
Our purpose as a national body is to promote co‐operation and assistance among our Member associations . We develop strategies for joint action on matters of common concern and we support public education , such as the non-partisan document focused on seniors ’ issues that we produced for the federal election .
I became involved with ACER-CART because of my interest in protecting pensions . If you were like me , you did not really think about pensions for most of your career . Then , when retirement came closer , you really started to focus .
Defined benefit pension plans are the most efficient and economical way to provide secure retirement income . Contributions over a professional lifetime , professionally invested over the long-term , provide strong returns . Investment costs about one quarter of one per cent of assets per year — compared to
retail costs that might be ten times that amount . That makes a huge difference over the sixty or so years that most of us will contribute and receive our pensions . Our actuary in BC tells us that eighty per cent of the money we receive in pensions , on average , comes from investment returns — just twenty per cent was from contributions made by us and our employers . That is cost efficiency .
All provincial associations are watching what is happening in Alberta with the transfer of teachers ’ pension assets to AIMCo . And we realize that none of us are safe — our pension security could change at any moment with a signature on a new bill in any province .
Another priority for ACER-CART this year was highlighted by the revelations during the COVID-19 pandemic of horrific conditions in seniors ’ care homes and the tragic number of deaths in our age group . ACER-CART advocates for a system that would prioritize at-home care for seniors .
We have been advocating for a comprehensive National Seniors Health Care Strategy for several years . We asked for a Minister for Seniors — we got that .
We need a national universal pharmacare plan ; even the federal government agrees that a national plan would save money — about $ 900 per person .
We understand that health care is a provincial matter under our constitution — not a federal matter . But don ’ t you agree that health care is in everyone ’ s best interest ?
Our effectiveness depends on the engagement of our 170,000 members .
We invite you to regularly visit our ACER-CART website www . acer-cart . org .
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