To the editor:
An open letter to MPP?Michael Gravelle:?
I understand that prior to proroguing the legislature, the Ontario government was moving toward pension reforms that could ultimately see control of our public service pensions turned over to corporations, despite the fact that they are currently very well-managed and quite stable as is.
It's no secret that governments at all levels are vigorously seeking new and creative ways to save money and to pay down ballooning deficits but this, in turn, has led to a disturbing trend in which it is becoming increasingly popular to mess with the very lifeblood of ordinary citizens.
To take such unnecessary risks with something that's taken an individual a lifetime to build, and is essential to the very survival of many senior Canadians, is unconscionable.
It is not only morally and ethically wrong in my opinion, but amounts to nothing less than theft, something this government has already condoned having allowed at least one private-sector employer to walk away from his legal obligation to thousands of workers in this regard.
I have had to work well over thirty years for my modest income, and like so many other public and private-sector employees I paid dearly into that pension believing that it would be there to sustain me in my senior years.
Clearly, Ontario's governments over the past 50 years have ignored, and failed to plan for the grey tsunami they knew would eventually come, and is now hitting Canada in a big way.
Instead, our elected officials turned a blind eye and subsequently squandered away or mismanaged many of the tax dollars seniors have paid out over the past half century that should have gone into affordable senior public housing, long-term care facilities, and many other health-related and socially relevant services that are shamefully lacking in Ontario today.
That being the case, it is even more imperative that seniors retain what pension funds we currently receive in order to help us stay as healthy as possible, and in our own homes for as long as possible (those of us who are fortunate enough to have one that is).
I therefore implore you and your colleagues to leave our pension funds alone, and not to take action that could exacerbate an already dire situation. To do otherwise is to risk the anger of all seniors who vote in much larger numbers than ever befor.
Louise Fisher,
Thunder Bay
