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2010 AGM
The 19th
ACER-CART Annual General Meeting (AGM), held on June 4-5, 2010,
was preceded by a special information session on the afternoon of
Thursday, June 3. An information handout on federal Bill C-516
(Guaranteed Income Supplement changes) was reviewed by Regional
Representative-Québec Ed Zegray. This was followed by an
informative session on lobbying by John Staple of the Canadian
Teachers' Federation. At the AGM 13 (of 14) retired teacher
organizations in Canada gathered at the Ottawa Marriott Hotel to
address various reports and resolutions from the Executive and
Member Associations. Delegates also renewed acquaintances, met new
friends, shared ideas, and reported on the activities of their
associations since the last AGM.
A major portion of the meeting was
used to discuss events and issues of the member associations based
on their well developed written reports. Johnson Inc.’s Lori
MacDonald-Blundon gave a presentation on "Cross Canada Drug Costs
and Plan Coverage" which was both informational and concerning. As
well, a new AGM Handbook binder format was introduced this
year.
2010-11 Election of Officers
The annual election returned
all but one of the previous executive officers: Vaughn Wadelius
(RTAM) from The Pas, MB remains as president. The four Regional
Representatives are Atlantic: Dr. Thomas Gaskell (RTO-NSTU)
from Little Bras d’Or, NS; Québec: Ed Zegray (QART) from
Montréal, QC; West: Dean McMullen (ARTA) from Vermilion,
AB; Ontario: Brian Kenny (RTO/ERO) from Dryden, ON was
newly elected and is the 2010-11 vice-president. The past
president is Helen Biales (RTO/ERO) from Windsor, ON. The
executive is supported by Executive Director Norbert Boudreau with
secretarial assistance provided by CTF support staff person Lynne
Richard, and financial management by CTF’s Debbie McCarthy.
Committee
Reports
Regular annual reports from
the ACER-CART committees, provide a view of the many efforts
during the 2009-10 year to advocate and publicize the positions
proposed by ACER-CART.
Communications Committee
(Vaughn Wadelius, Chair)
The website is a source of communication and
information, with updates done regularly to the standard website
pages. Visits since its development are approaching 7000.
Information releases on our issues are circulated and put on our
website, including any briefs to government. The Summer edition of
the ACER-CART newsletter OPTIONS is produced for use by
member associations. A special Directors’ website access page for
AGM documents was used again in 2010 to provide access to AGM
documents in advance of the meeting. In addition, this feature was
used to deliver the Executive Director’s Quarterly Reports.
The committee produced an ACER-CART logo banner, an information
pamphlet to promote our association at events we attend, and
service certificates for presentation at the AGM to departing
Directors.
Health
Services and Insurance Committee
(Thomas Gaskell, Chair)
This committee, with a focus on the issues of
the Canada Health Act, developed a paper reviewing the necessity
of supporting the development of a national pharmacare program. It
raised the concern of the growing efforts to privatize Canadian
health care, and the wide variation in the cost to seniors of
provincially approved generic prescription drugs.
Legislative Committee
(Helen Biales, Chair)
A full review of our policies was completed,
and most were affirmed. A revised Reserve Fund policy was approved
at the AGM. It set upper limits on the size of the Fund. Also
presented and approved were policies outlining the process in case
of the dissolution of ACER-CART, the duties of the Regional
Representative, and the use and protection of our logo. Policies
are to be reviewed at least every five years, and a new format was
produced for distribution to the Directors.
Pension and
Retirement Income Committee
(Arnold Hull, Chair)
This committee took
direction from a 2009 AGM resolution that we lobby the federal
government for a National Securities Regulator and prepared a
paper supporting this issue. Copies were forwarded to various
federal ministers and member associations, requesting their
support. A summary report article "Are Canadians at Risk of
Outliving Their Retirement Savings" had also been approved and
distributed.
Other
Action Taken in 2009-10
ACER-CART is a member of the
Congress of National Seniors Organizations (CNSO) ,
and President Wadelius participated in its executive discussions
on federal issues. A response was produced to the National Seniors
Council Report ("Canada’s Aging Population"), and to the Special
Canadian Senate "Report on Aging," and distributed to the
appropriate federal Ministers. Direct contact with various
ministers was also used by ACER-CART. A revitalization of the CNSO
is underway.
ACER-CART Positions Taken
Motions were passed at the 2010 AGM
directing the organization to:
Seek trademark protection for the
ACER-CART logo
Clarify budget lines for regional and
national representation
Extend the budget line for
development of communications in both official languages
Pursue with other seniors’ groups the
goal of lobbying the federal government on the issue of
investment fraud against seniors
Lobby the Government of Canada to:
a) restore funding to the "Lest We Forget"
program
b) increase the CPP/QPP, OAS, and GIS benefits
and to take measures to protect seniors
from living in poverty
c) change tax legislation to allow charitable
donations up to $1200 be accorded the same
treatment as political contributions
d) support Bill C-516 to improve the GIS, and
ask member associations to contact their MPs
to do the same.
Referred to the executive for a feasibility
review were the issues of the poverty among retired teachers in
Canada, and membership in the National Pensioners and Senior
Citizens Federation.
2010-11 President Vaughn
Wadelius Comments
As we enter our 20th
year as an association, we can be proud of our efforts over the
years to promote issues affecting retired teachers. Equally
important is the forum we provide for the exchange of ideas among
our member associations, and with like-minded national groups of
seniors. In gratitude to the support of ACER-CART Directors and
Officers over the years we have set out to develop a database of
their names and service, and this June we began presenting a
Certificate of Service to more recent directors retiring from the
Board.
Service Award Recipients
this year
were:
Patricia
Bowslaugh (RTAM)
Patrick Brady (BCRTA)
Fred Herron (STS)
George Little (NBSRT)
Patricia Steele (QPARSE)
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Our new Ontario Regional
Representative, Brian Kenny, has ably stepped in to replace Arnold
Hull who has been ill for several weeks, but is now well on the
road to recovery. Brian himself also recovered from a serious
accident this year and these incidents were suitable backdrops to
the 2010 AGM presentation identifying the great discrepancies in
calamitous illness drug coverage across Canada.
This year we made additional
efforts to provide our communications equally in French and
English. Executive Director Norbert Boudreau was tireless in
following up on this task with memos, letters and documents so
that delays were minimized.
Some lobbying efforts and
goals identified at the AGM work best when all our member
associations and affiliated organizations communicate with a
common position to government. We will work to include, with our
requests for member assistance, some support materials such as
background papers and briefs.
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Previous
Newsletters of ACER-CART. |
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Newsletter 2003 - 2004
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Newsletter 2004 - 2005
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Newsletter Summer, 2005
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Newsletter Winter, 2006
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Newsletter Summer, 2006
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Newsletter Winter, 2007
Newsletter Summer, 2007
Newsletter Winter, 2008
Newsletter Summer, 2008
Newsletter, Summer, 2009
Newsletter, Summer, 2010
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