Dear Sir Bob Vezina,

On behalf of Gilles Duceppe, Leader of the Bloc Québécois, I would like to thank you for your email of February 10, 2010, and for taking the time to share your concerns about your pension fund. Please be assured that your suggestions have received careful consideration.

The Bloc Québécois fully supports pensioners whose retirement income has been drastically reduced because their pension fund was in deficit when their former employer closed its doors. We understand their frustration and concern over being unfairly deprived of an important source of income.

The Bloc Québécois has a long history of supporting pensioners and has proposed a series of measures to protect them:

• The federal government should assume trusteeship of the pension plans of bankrupt companies under its jurisdiction, as is done in Quebec. This step would prevent funds from being liquidated when markets are low.
• The six-month period in the Wage Earner Protection Program should be abolished. Employees of companies that go bankrupt and then invoke massive layoffs would be eligible for the compensation to which they are entitled.
• The pension plan contribution limit should be increased to 125% of the break-even rate. This would promote the development of a reserve. This ball is back in the government’s court after it tried to pass it off to the provinces.
• The pension plan contribution limit should be increased to 125% of the break-even rate. This would promote the development of a reserve. This ball is back in the government’s court after it tried to pass it off to the provinces.
• The Bloc introduced Bill C-290 to grant a refundable tax credit equivalent to 22% of the amount lost by pensioners wronged by an employer that failed to make its pension plan contributions. Despite Conservative opposition to this bill, it was to be considered in committee.
• The threshold for the automatic review of foreign investments should be changed to $300 million from $1 billion. This step would ensure that a large company like Nortel, for example, would not be sold at a loss.

The Bloc Québécois also supports restrictions to pension plans in order to avoid risky investments, particularly investments in the company itself.

Lastly, with respect to your main request to obtain a preferred claim for pension funds with an actuarial deficit, a bill was tabled in Parliament and we were hoping to study it. However, consideration of all bills unfortunately stopped when the Harper government prorogued Parliament.

Rest assured that the Bloc Québécois MPs will remain attentive to your concerns and make every effort to act in the best interests of pensioners at all times.

Sincerely,

Véronique Poirier
Adjointe de Meili Faille
Députée de Vaudreuil-Soulanges
Porte-parole du Bloc Québécois en matière de comptes publics
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