Saturday, July 25, 2009

Ottawa can do much to 'beef up' pensions


Edmonton Journal
July 24, 2009

Re: "Ottawa, provinces look to beef up pensions," The Journal, July 22.

I find it ironic that the federal government and the provinces are meeting in Calgary to consider how to encourage Canadians to save more since the economic downturn eroded savings.

The truth is that the Tory government in Ottawa, aided and abetted by the provinces, especially Ontario and Alberta, devastated seniors' incomes with the legislation introduced in November 2006 announcing the taxation of income trusts.

Seniors lost billions in their portfolios and to this day the federal government has not been able to justify its actions or provide evidence of taxation losses because of the existence of income trusts.

In fact, time has shown that the feds have lost billions of dollars in taxation as a direct result of this legislation, which was politically motivated at the request of big insurance companies and other financial institutions.

Yes, the second shoe to fall was the economic downturn, but the first shoe to fall was the devastation brought on with the taxation of income trusts and the impact this decision has had on seniors'incomes and the deterioration of income trust values since 2006.

S. J. Rideout, Edmonton
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

1 comment:

Dr Mike said...

This has been an obvious blind-siding by an uncaring gov`t leaving many of us old farts at wits end because of the lost income which was the result.

My question is , why was the original Trust legislation supported by most of the MPs of all sitting parties??

Did this legislation all of a sudden become faulty over-night??

Did the Liberals not read the original drafts??

Did the Dippers read it at all??

Why were the Greens the only one`s with any common sense??

Why are the Libs not pounding this into the ground & work it for all it`s worth if they are truly "Liberal"??

As usual , many questions , no answers.

Dr Mike.