Daniel Mulloy | Chief Executive Officer , ARTA ( Hugo | Chief Barking Officer )

“ It ’ s not the size of the dog in the fight , it ’ s the size of the fight in the dog .”

— Mark Twain

It certainly feels like we have been in a number of fights lately , and I ’ m quite proud to say that the little dog known as ARTA has put up a sizable fight in the face of great adversity .

What type of fights has ARTA been in that would necessitate me bringing them up in this article ? I would like to point out a few of these fights , and I would like to think that we ’ ve done some significant damage in effecting change .

The first fight , as you all know , has been with the provincial government . The government has been busy making decisions that may or may not be in the best interest of our members . Such decisions include changes to management of pensions , changes in health care , and changes in education , all of which may not be best for our society but are nonetheless happening . This small dog has effectively passed the message to our members and in turn to their MLAs and other senior ranking officials . We have been involved in the fight and are letting the

government know that this dog is not happy with the changes that they are trying to thrust upon us .

ARTA has also been involved in an amicable fight — to ensure the long-term sustainability of our own Retiree Benefits Plan . This fight is one that we took on ourselves because of changes in government regulation that forced us to make decisions on how to best administer our plan . The end result of this fight has been for us to take on self-administration of our benefit plan . Although we ’ ve faced a few punches and have been knocked down a time or two , we are winning this fight , and we ’ re excited to launch self-administration and to serve our members ’ needs in a manner that you all deserve .

Our final fight , one that everyone is in whether a big dog or little dog , is the fight against COVID-19 . We do not know what the outcome of this fight will be , but we are hopeful that the fight will end soon . We know that like any good fight we will always do our best to win , and we trust that those around us are fighting fairly to ensure that we can all stay healthy .

ARTA , once a small dog , is starting to grow and regardless of its size will always fight to ensure that our members can have an engaged lifestyle in retirement . Yours in service ,

CEO & Assistant to my dog

news & views WINTER 2020 | 7