(From the Air Canada Pionairs - November 25, 2010

It has been some time since our last Update.  There are a number of critical issues to our pension’s security both positive and negative:

 

 

• The Government has begun drafting Regulations to implement the Pension Reform Legislation passed last July.
• Bill C-501, a bill to make solvency deficiency amounts super priority creditors (e.g. in CCAA/BIA these creditors receive highest priority access to a company’s assets) is now in Committee for study.
• The Government’s efforts to enact the critical regulations making effective the Pension Reforms passed into law 10 July 2010 by Bill C-9 (Budget 2010) Section S-9 Pension Reform, seems to have stalled.

This is the Law which revises pension liabilities from unrecognized claims to unsecured but recognized creditor claims on a Company which has entered into Company and Creditors Accommodation Act (CCAA) or Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA). The passage of the Legislation in July 2010 was the result of the Pionairs’ active advocacy in the form of writes-ins, meeting attendance, personal visits to their members of Parliament, etc. It is very apparent that our Parliamentary Representatives do listen. We do need, however, to keep them informed.

Now that the Legislation improving Pension Security has been passed, the Government must write regulations and obtain Finance Minister’s approval, Cabinet approval and Governor General Proclamation. Because implementation of this legislation is so critical to our Pension Security and because the Government is taking an inordinately long time to make the law effective, we must ask you to once again write to your Member of Parliament, Prime Minister and Minister of finance and request their support to have the law which makes the Pension Plan an unsecured creditor implemented immediately.

While the Company appears to be recovering from the market downturn of 2008-2009, it is incumbent on all of us to take appropriate measures to secure our pensions against the next cyclic downturn as rapidly as we can.

As in the past, we have attached three (3) drafts of letters which we would ask you to send to the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Flaherty and your Member of Parliament as soon as possible. We understand the holidays are here; however, the Government has had over five months to implement the law and has yet to do so. Our urgent reminder to them now becomes critical.

Our very sincere thanks for your support in protecting the security of all our Pensions. May you and your families enjoy a Healthy and Happy Christmas and Rewarding New Year.

Sincerely,

Air Canada Pionairs
ACFamily Network

To Proceed;

• Choose the Sample letter in the left column that you feel is correct for you
• Follow the Directions on the one you select

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In order to assist our members (both ACFamily and Pionairs) in contacting Parliament the Pionairs Pension and Benefit Sub-Committee has created three pre-made letters that hopefully will reflect your views. If not, you are also free to create your own letter with your own wording as well. The choices in the left column were created in this (HTML) format by the ACFamily Network so that it would be easier for you to send your message to Parliament as a valid submission. All such submissions need to have a valid name, address and contact information in order to be considered legitimate by our Government. Anonymous emails are deleted. The forms provided are designed to assure that it is sent to the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Flaherty and your Member of Parliament, that all required information is obtained, and it is also copied to the Pionairs Pension Committee as well. You will also receive a copy of what you submit to the Government for your records.

Please choose one of the options in the left hand menu, fill out the Form and Submit.