Your pension at risk: $142.4 billion money grab affecting almost 650,000 Workers

The Ford government has taken over OMERS by granting the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing direct control over your pension fund, contrary to recommendations made by their own experts in a recent review.

This has been tried before. It didn’t work then, and it won’t now.

No other jointly sponsored pension plan in Canada is subject to this level of political interference. OMERS manages over $142.4 billion in assets, and the province’s money grab will affect more than 650,000 Ontario workers.

This is a BIG deal, and we need your help to stop it. If you care about your retirement, please add your voice to this petition.

Dear Minister Flack:

As a hard working Ontarian and an active member of the OMERS Pension Plan, I write to demand that your government do the right thing and implement the recommendations of your Special Advisor Robert Poirier as they were submitted.

Bill 68 amended the OMERS Act, 2006 in ways that produce dangerous half-measures and are counterintuitive the way every other jointly sponsored pension plan (JSPP) in Canada works. They stand in stark contrast to the comprehensive recommendations your government was provided in the OMERS governance review.

The OMERS ACT now mentions the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing over 30 times, mainly through granting massive regulatory control over my pension plan.  No other JSPP in the country is subject to this kind of direct government interference, in fact is the very opposite of what a JSPP is by definition. This must be changed.

The law needs to fully spell out sponsor representation and voting rights.  It needs to ensure the new Sponsors Council are able to fully act as sponsor would in any other JSPP, unencumbered by confusing and disruptive fiduciary duties counter to their roles.  That respect means sponsors must write their own bylaws or charter and clearly maintain all of the duties to those only responsible for the administration of the plan

Every dollar that goes to OMERS is the deferred wages of the workers who belong to it.  My sponsor helps to oversee and bargain those deferred wages. The law needs to demonstrate that sponsors are respected for the important role they play – without them OMERS doesn’t exist.

The OMERS act must be further amended to reflect these important changes so that this largest pension plan in the country to function in a way that does not further erode members’ trust and confidence in OMERS or result in years long battles over the plan.  That’s what your government’s review was meant to fix.

I care deeply about my pension; I know its an essential part of my compensation and as a way to fortify my retirement security. I will not rest until my rights and my voice in my pension are secure. I respectfully ask for a reply to these requests.

Sincerely

<your name>

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