Ontario East, North & Outaouais / Newsletter, July 2015
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
· Upcoming Meetings
· From our Chapter Chair
· BPG President’s Message
· BPG Celebrates 20 Years / · Pension Information Committee Elections
· Do you know the Board of Directors?
· Ottawa Chapter Executive
· Membership Renewals & Applications
UPCOMING MEETINGS IN YOUR AREA
www.bellpensionersgroup.ca 1
BELL PENSIONERS’ GROUP – OTTAWA CHAPTER July 2015
City / Date / Time / PlaceKingston / Tues 22 Sept 2015 / 1:00pm – 4:00pm / Portsmouth Olympic Harbour
53 Yonge St, Kingston
Ottawa / Thurs 29 Oct 2015 / 9:30am - 12:30pm
Registration at 8:45am / Nepean Sportsplex (Salon A)
1701 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa
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BELL PENSIONERS’ GROUP – OTTAWA CHAPTER July 2015
FROM OUR CHAPTER CHAIRwww.bellpensionersgroup.ca 7
BELL PENSIONERS’ GROUP – OTTAWA CHAPTER July 2015
Hello Everyone!
Thanks to the 246 people who attended our AGM on May 20 where we celebrated our 20th Anniversary. We were very honoured to have four of the Ottawa originating team with us. See article and pictures in this newsletter.
Important reminder. The PIC nomination period is June 29-July 31 and voting August 10-Sept 4. (See PIC election article in this newsletter.) BPG is recommending four candidates, one representative and one back-up for each of the two regions. Our Chapter is going to nominate Sue Dawes. Sue is the current back-up rep for Ontario and is also on the BPG Board where she
deals with Government Relations.
The rules require a minimum of 15 people to nominate a candidate. Please help by filling out the official form nominating Suzanne Elizabeth Dawes (Sue’s full name). Sue’s employee number & address may be obtained by emailing our Chapter Secretary, Geraldine Foot, at . Kindly use the heading Nomination.
Please mark the next meetings in your agenda and have a wonderful summer.
Marlyn Easterbrook
Chapter Chair for Ottawa, including
Ontario East, North & Outaouais
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BELL PENSIONERS’ GROUP – OTTAWA CHAPTER July 2015
BPG PRESIDENT’s MESSAGEwww.bellpensionersgroup.ca 7
BELL PENSIONERS’ GROUP – OTTAWA CHAPTER July 2015
Hi Everyone!
My Spring AGM tour featured many celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of BPG. On those occasions, I had the pleasure of meeting many of the founding members of BPG, including Dan Braniff, BPG’s first President. These folk are still very passionate about our organization and, in fact, some are still actively involved with BPG! I would like to recognize those who created BPG as well as those who have supported our organization throughout the years. They deserve our sincere appreciation.
The solvency ratios for the Bell, BCE, Bell Aliant and Telebec pension plans are currently about 90%. Notably, the Bell Canada Plan achieved a 12.6% return on investment in 2014, compared with 6.1% in 2013. The official 2014 Pension Plan results will be available in June 2015 and included in our next newsletter and on our Web site.
In its April 21 Economic Action Plan, the government stated that conversion from Defined Benefit (DB) to Target Benefit (TB) pension plans would be based on consent, but has not specified how this would be obtained. We believe that each pensioner must be given the right to choose whether to continue with his or her DB pension plan or move to the TB plan. Together with our government relations consultant and other pensioner groups, BPG has been actively ensuring the government understands our concerns about the need for individual informed consent in this context. However, we need to keep pressure on the government leading up to this Fall’s election (likely October 19) to ensure commitments made to some 8 million DB pension plan members across the country are honoured.
In order to do this, we need your help. That’s why we are encouraging our members to contact their local federal Members of Parliament to voice our concerns. If you are willing to help, please advise your Chapter. We’ll be in touch to provide you with all of the information you’ll need to prepare for your meeting or convey your message in writing. We are also collaborating with the Canadian Federation of Pensioners (CFP) and other pensioner groups on this ‘mobilization’ campaign in order to increase pressure on the Federal Government. We also encourage you to help us recruit new members in order to further strengthen our credibility.
I would like to extend a special thank you to Marie André from the Montreal Chapter for her work on the BPG survey conducted early this year. Marie was instrumental in developing the survey and providing a detailed analysis of the survey results. When you review the results in this newsletter, you’ll see they were very positive. We were very pleased with the response rate and wish to thank all of you who took the time to complete the survey. In the coming months, we will review the results and comments you provided in order to develop an action plan to help us better serve your needs. We will get back to you with the key initiatives that make up that action plan in Q1 2016.
Elections will be held in August/September to select the retirees to represent us on the Pension Information Committee (PIC) for the next three years. We are recommending Peter Dilworth as PIC rep for Ontario, with Sue Dawes as alternate, and Michel Doyon as PIC rep for Quebec, with Yvan Dutrisac as alternate. These are important roles and I encourage you to support these candidates. The election process is explained in this newsletter.
Thank you for your ongoing support of BPG. Have a great summer!
Dan Mc Donald
BPG President
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BELL PENSIONERS’ GROUP – OTTAWA CHAPTER July 2015
BPG CELEBRATES 20 YEARSwww.bellpensionersgroup.ca 7
BELL PENSIONERS’ GROUP – OTTAWA CHAPTER July 2015
2015 marks the 20th anniversary of the Bell Pensioners’ Group! Many of our members are not aware of the tumultuous events that gave rise to our founding or of the important milestones we’ve reached since.
We have come a long way from the small but determined group of Bell pensioners who wanted nothing more than to safeguard rights and benefits earned during our careers. While we are now a membership of over 10,000, what hasn’t changed is our resolve to continue advocating for your rights and to empower you with information concerning your valued pensions.
Here is a brief retrospective of our history, as documented by Dan Braniff, our first President, and a tip of the hat to those who have shaped it in indelible ways.
A grassroots movement responds
On August 12, 1994 the global financial industry and policy holders were rocked by the announcement that Confederation Life, a 150+ year old insurance company with a previous AAA rating, was to be liquidated. Bell employees and pensioners were stunned to realize that their Supplementary Pension Plan was not guaranteed and their retirement nest eggs were in jeopardy. Bell “accepted no responsibility” to protect plan members against default by the liquidation.
In a Globe & Mail story, two London, ON Bell retirees, Neil Burgess and Harvey Hall, rallied pensioners to stand up and fight. They were soon contacted by many equally-concerned Bell retirees and word spread. “These brave volunteers accepted unknown personal risks, gave generously of their time and paid expenses out of their own pockets. It was a classic ‘all-for-one, one-for-all’ grassroots reaction,” recalls Dan Braniff, founding President of the BPG.
Organizational chapters soon sprang up in Montréal, Québec, Ottawa, London and Windsor. BPG was officially formed in May 1995 with a structure and mandate to “represent the individual and collective interests of members during the liquidation of Confederation Life assets to ensure the maximum recovery of members' investments (l00% principal and interest).” Members Bob Wilson, Neil Burgess, Bill Tawse and Dan Braniff arranged to meet with a representative of the Liquidator to understand the process and BPG’s role in it.
Thoughtful, sustained strategy
BPG put forth several options to Bell to settle the situation, all of which were rejected. BPG then planned a three-pronged strategic plan of attack that comprised political, media and legal angles. They retained one of the best legal firms and launched a well-coordinated campaign to engage federal MPs, provincial MPPs and MLAs, in Ontario and Québec in their effort, including cabinet members, former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and former Ontario Premier Mike Harris.
But it was the fervent interventions of Ovid Jackson, Member of Parliament for Owen Sound Grey-Bruce that won BPG essential political and media support. Ovid was instrumental in keeping our case on the radar of high-ranking politicians and whose successful idea it was to present a petition to Parliament signed by our members and supporters – which was accepted by the House. Ovid also wrote to Bell President John McLennan and secured a meeting with company representatives demanding action from Bell to settle the impasse.
“The political lobbying was a monumental success thanks especially to the coordination by our Ottawa Chapter and overwhelming member participation,” comments Dan.
BPG kept the issue in the public eye; over 100 articles about their cause were published in national newspapers during the struggle. Many meetings with Bell officials ensued, concluding with the successful negotiation on March 27, 1996 of an Enhancement Agreement with Bell, brokered with the help of Ed Beaty, that guaranteed appropriate financial compensation upon liquidation of Confederation Life.
Perhaps the most significant achievement of BPG was the Court’s precedent-setting ruling for payment of interest to policy holders. Compounding value at double digit prevailing rates during the settlement period meant that BPG members received about twice their invested dollar value. Even those who were covered by CompCorp guaranties benefited by the windfall. The liquidator indicated that it was BPG’s persistent convincing arguments that persuaded Judge Lloyd Houlden to accept BPG as the de facto voice of all 3 million policy holders when he awarded the compound interest entitlement.
The hard-fought victory was to be a model for other Group RRSPs. “Our 3-pronged strategy proved to be paramount but without the incredible teamwork the endeavour would have probably failed,” affirms Dan. With trust between BPG and Bell restored, the two organizations joined forces and convinced Revenue Canada to reverse a decision on tax implications of the settlement.
A legacy on which to build
The BPG Board would later decide that BPG should continue to advocate on behalf of pensioners’ rights, ready for pre-emptive action should another threat occur. Today, BPG advocates on many fronts, including intervention in legislative and policy issues with the Federal and Provincial governments and other stakeholders in the pension area.
Looking to the future, we believe there is a greater need than ever for a strong unified voice representing Bell pensioners. We are committed to working with you to successfully protect our pensions and benefits for the next 20 years - and beyond.
Founding Organization
Chapter Chairs Elected
(also serve as Corporate Directors)
London: Neil Burgess
Montréal: Rhéal Proulx
Ottawa: Bill Tawse
Québec City: Gaston Perreault
Toronto: Ken Beach
Corporate Directors:
Dan Braniff, President
Ed Beaty, Vice-President
Jacqueline Boileau, Secretary
Al Smith, Incorporation
Bob McLachlan
Bill Spratt
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BELL PENSIONERS’ GROUP – OTTAWA CHAPTER July 2015
Founding members recognized at BPG 20th anniversary at May/June AGMs!
Former Presidents at the Ontario Central AGM Ottawa Chapter founding members: John Elliot,
Russ Donaldson, Carol Reid, Founding President Marlyn Easterbrook, Chapter Chair, Claire Collis,
Dan Braniff, Jim McColl and Al Bowcott Roy Coleman, Dan McDonald, BPG President, and Peter Wall.
London (519) Chapter founding members: Daniel Québec Chapter founding members: Dan
McDonald, BPG President, Garth Lowther, Don McDonald, BPG President, Paul-Émile Gosselin,
Graham, SWO Chapter Chair, Norm Walker, Don Gaston Perreault and Jean Lamer, Chapter Chair
Williams and Gray Styan
Members of the Montréal Chapter since 1995:
Louis-Philippe Charbonneau, Denyse Fournier,
Yves Sauvé, Gladys Scully, Walter Pearce and
Murielle Laverdière.
PENSION INFORMATION COMMITTEE ELECTIONSwww.bellpensionersgroup.ca 7
BELL PENSIONERS’ GROUP – OTTAWA CHAPTER July 2015
The 2016-2018 Pension Information Committee (PIC) elections are taking place this summer. Be ready to vote!
Why you should vote
There are two retiree positions on the PIC and four positions held by Bell managers and union representatives.
The role of this elected position is to promote awareness and understanding of the pension plan for its members. The PIC representative typically participates in a Bell hosted meeting for information purposes to review financial, actuarial and administrative aspects of your pension plan. The PIC representative also has the opportunity to review and provide feedback on the draft PIC report that Bell produces on an annual basis for all pensioners.
In the past three years, the retiree positions were held by BPG members. The Ontario and Western Canada position was held by Allison Henriques with Sue Dawes as back up, and for Québec and Eastern Canada, Michel Doyon with Yvan Dutrisac as back up.
BPG nominations for 2016-2018
In Ontario, BPG supports Peter Dilworth (PIC rep) and Sue Dawes (back up) and in Québec, Michel Doyon (PIC rep) and Yvan Dutrisac (back up). The person receiving the greatest number of votes (separately in Ontario and Québec) will be the PIC representative. The person with the second greatest vote count will be the back up PIC representative.
PIC elections process
· June 2015 In Touch newsletter: outlines the process for retirees to elect PIC representatives for 2016 to 2018.
· June 29 to July 31: Election process starts. Nominations are done by you, using the PIC website at https://www.services-bell.com/PIC2015 or returning the form in the pre-addressed envelope included in the June issue of In Touch.