Defend the Pensions We Have, Fight for Pensions for All!
Calgarians Rally for Retirement Security For All!
Close to 100 Calgarians, many of them seniors, rallied at Calgary City Hall on June 8 to demand retirement security for everyone. The rally, organized by Save Alberta's Future for Everyone (SAFE) fittingly took place during Alberta's Seniors' Week.
SAFE is a Calgary-based group formed in March, 2024 by a group of
senior women who say they were outraged by United Conservative Party
(UCP) Premier Danielle Smith's plans to create an Alberta Pension Plan
(APP) and exit the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).
One of the emcees from SAFE, in welcoming everyone to the rally, spoke about the provincial government's proposal to take Albertans out of the CPP. She pointed out that the minimum expected cost to implement this plan is $2.2 billion, and said what a burden this would create for Albertans. She asked "why spend billions on this plan, when so many real problems urgently need action, such as health care, education, climate change, cost of living, insurance rates, and the list goes on?"
Speaking to media during the rally, Annette Lengyel, an organizer with SAFE, said; "We are here because we want to make the public aware that Danielle Smith is putting our retirement in jeopardy, and we are not going to stand for it."
It was a cold, windy day for June, but the weather did not put a damper on the spirited and lively event. The program began with well-known Indigenous singer and songwriter, Wendy Walker performing her new and popular song She's Got to Go! The entire rally clapped and sang along. Later the Raging Grannies performed songs, including Hands Off Our CPP, with everyone joining in.
Among the speakers at the Rally were Gil McGowan, President of the Alberta Federation of Labour, and Alex Shevalier, President of the Calgary and District Labour Council. Both labour leaders took the stand that the working people of this province have no intention of permitting this government, led by a premier who said she would like to get her hands on "the pot of money," to hijack pension contributions from workers who have lived or worked in Alberta.
Peggy Askin, President of the Calgary Area Council of the Congress of Union Retirees of Canada (CURC), began her remarks by congratulating the women of SAFE for their hard work in organizing such a successful event. She said: "Seniors' Week is just the time to put forward our stand, which is: defend the pensions we have and fight for pensions for all," and emphasized that what we urgently need in Alberta and from coast to coast to coast is secure pensions at retirement to ensure a Canadian standard of living. To put our security in the hands of an APP created by any government is both unacceptable and, to say the least, very risky, and would risk the retirement security of our younger generation, she said.
Near the end of her remarks, she addressed participants saying: "We must not permit this issue to divide our ranks as all of us want what is best for working Albertans. The danger comes when those with positions of power and privilege steal pension funds to hand them over to narrow private interests to line their pockets, for example by using pension funds to provide the infrastructure the monopolies require, to privatize public services, or to further integrate Canada into the U.S. war economy.” We must control our pension funds which must be used to make sure everyone is guaranteed security in retirement. The federal government itself is using the Canada Pension Fund to further the narrow private interests it serves. Neither level of government upholds our security in retirement because they are intent on pushing an anti-social agenda. We must unite in action and take up the fight for pensions for all from our own vantage point so that the vast amounts of money pension funds contain can be put at the disposal of our needs, not those of narrow private interests in the name of high ideals."
Rebecca Brown, an organizer with Enough is Enough, Deborah Schaan, CUPE Alberta General Vice President North and Chair of the Pensions and Benefits Committee, Calgary NDP MLAs, Amanda Chapman, Dr. Luann Metz and Lizette Tejada all brought out the risks involved in replacing the CPP with an APP. Henry Wakoluk, a retired member of AUPE and a former President of AUPE Local 95 representing health care workers, spoke about his life experience organizing for workers' rights and the rights of all, emphasizing the importance of resistance to the anti-worker anti-social agenda of the UCP government, and called on everyone to keep organizing actions like today's rally, and to never give up. A statement of endorsement by the National Pensioners Federation was read during the rally.
This rally was another example that the consistent stand of Alberta workers, through all the attacks launched by one government after the other, no matter what political party was in power, has been Defend the Pensions We Have! Fight for Pensions For All!
Hands Off CPP rallies were also held in Medicine Hat on June 8 and Edmonton on June 9.
This article was published in
Volume 54 Number 5 - June 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/M540059.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca