The beginning of the end of workplace age discrimination
The end of mandatory retirement signals progress but much work remains to be done
How often do you hear: “there oughta be a law!” Changing the law to redress a wrong is certainly the first step but rarely the last. So it is with mandatory retirement – forcing someone to retire at a set age despite being fully capable of doing the job – is no longer legal thanks to the passage of Bill C-13 in December.
But that doesn’t mean workplace age discrimination has been eliminated. Law firms are already debating “how” to get rid of older workers – without a thought as to “whether” they should. Read more
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Meet Minister Alice Wong, Minister of State for Seniors
CARP members, seniors and other major stakeholders are meeting with Minister Alice Wong to discuss both the opportunities and challenges facing seniors in Canada, as well as their hopes and aspirations.
Alice is an educator, entrepreneur and active community leader who immigrated to Hong Kong in 1980. Currently she is the Member of Parliament for Richmond, British Columbia, and Minister of State for Seniors. Read more
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Ottawa will not go ahead with securities plan: Flaherty
Sun sets on hopes for a National Securities Regulator
“What this does is set the constitutional platform for us to move forward and actually build a national regulator for Canada, which is essential for our capital markets,” said Ian Russell, President and CEO of the Investment Industry Association of Canada.
The seniors advocacy group CARP issued a statement expressing disappointment with the ruling, noting that its members were looking forward to improved investor protection via stronger investigative powers under the proposed national body.
“Now the provinces, especially those that opposed the national body, must step up and demonstrate how they would replace that vital investor protection,” said Susan Eng, CARP’s vice-president for advocacy. Read more
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Supreme Court decision disallows National Securities Regulator – Dashes hope for better investor protection
CARP Press Release
CARP is disappointed with the Supreme Court decision that will effectively stop the National Securities Regulator. The proposed agency had promised better investor protection – something that CARP members have demanded.
The National Securities Regulator had been expected to include an enforcement and investigation function to provide a strengthened, more coordinated regulatory and criminal enforcement regime to better protect investors from misconduct in Canada’s capital markets. Read more
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Seniors catch pension break
CPP Changes for 2012
CHANGES: Amendments to the federal plan mean Canadians over 60 can improve retirement incomes while working on the job
Changes to the Canada Pension Plan could help seniors who un-retire while they collect, and add to, their pensions.
Pension amendments, which quietly took effect Jan. 1, allow people older than 60 the option of improving their retirement incomes at the same time as they work at a job.
“There there are some people who are growling but for the larger part, the changes are positive,” said Susan Eng, vice-president of advocacy at CARP, Canada’s national organization for older people. Read more
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Susan Eng on Power and Politics
CARP Video
On December 21st, 2011 CARP VP of Advocacy Susan Eng appeared on Power Politics to debate why Federal Spending should be directed towards the retiring boomer population. Read more
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Ottawa Chapter Chair Discusses CBC Changes with CBC Radio
Ottawa Chapter Chair Discusses CPP Changes with CBC Radio
In early January CARP Ottawa Chapter Chair Janet Grey spoke with CBC Radio about CPP Changes for 2012. If you're looking for a quick way to get up to date, this clip is for you. Read more
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CARP Press Release Gets Full Page Coverage in Retired Living
In December 2011, CARP’s press release on PRPPs and pension reform received full page placement in the print edition of Retired Living. Read more
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Your Guide to the Supreme Court’s Recent Securities Ruling and Protecting your Investments
Part 1: Investor Recourse and the Regulatory Landscape
As far as CARP is concerned, the best reason of them all was that having a single, Canadian securities regulator would also address the issue of inadequate enforcement and inconsistent investor protection across Canada. Currently, fraudsters banned in one province simply move to a new province and continue operating. Canada has a securities enforcement mosaic, where each provincial securities commission has its own priorities, resources and varying levels of expertise. In 2006, the Crawford Panel on a Single Canadian Securities Regulator expressed “profound concern about ineffective enforcement,” which it called a “domestic and international embarrassment for Canada”. Read more
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Caregiver’s Diary: Visiting Dad in His New Home
A Family Connection to General Wolfe is Lost and Found
My widowed 88 year old father had survived the trip from his now-empty house in the Maritimes to his splendid new retirement residence in Niagara. There had been a flu quarantine (always a concern in a retirement home – a real room clearer) but it had lifted, and now it was time to see him in his new digs. Dad had spiffed up his apartment and done his laundry, with a crisp new J Crew shirt and an Irish sweater. But oh, he was SO thin. And short now, barely my height. He says he weighs 140 (which is about 5 more pounds than I weigh). Read more
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Back to Opioids: the dual tragedy continues – PART I
Abusers Getting too Many Drugs and People who Need them Not Getting Any
Over a year ago I wrote a column about the “Opioid Public Health Crisis” in Ontario. Opioids are a class of medications that are a natural derivatives of morphine and that can be also synthesized in the lab. They are the most potent medications available for the treatment of most types of severe pain, but they are also associated with several adverse events, including abuse and addiction. Read more
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Freedom 55…65…75… Desire to work is only part of the story
guest editorial by Mary Hynes, Older Women's Network
Amendments to the Canadian Human Rights Act enacted this December end mandatory retirement at a specific age. The new provisions, which come into force December 2012, give most federally regulated workers the same right to continue working as workers governed by most provincial employment legislation.
Read more
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Once You Get Over Discriminatory Practices, A Compelling Business Case Can be Made for Retaining and Hiring 50+ Workers
guest editorial by Karen Gilmour, Older Worker Advocate
Age discrimination in the workplace is a reality in today’s world; many older workers are unable to remain in the labour force or to re-enter it because of age prejudice. As early as the age of 45, employers may identify individuals as ‘older workers’. Age discrimination does not appear to generate the same degree of moral outrage as other forms of discrimination. Read more
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Kindergarten in a retirement home proves a hit with young and old
The sun-drenched common room at the south end of Columbia Garden Village retirement home in Invermere, B.C., is quiet most days. The shuffle of slippers on linoleum, the clink of a coffee mug in the sink, or the click of knitting needles are often the only sounds.
But every Tuesday and Friday, 18 kindergartners from Eileen Madson Primary School arrive in a yellow school bus and take over, turning the home’s common room into a classroom, and the home’s residents into active participants. The kindergartners go about their lessons, crafts and play time surrounded by the seniors who live there. Some elders watch from the sidelines, others roll up their sleeves and build block towers or indulge in a reading of a Scooby-Doo storybook. Read more
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Caregivers: Input needed for Survey
online survey
CARP is working with the Sheridan Elder Research Centre (SERC) at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. SERC undertakes research and projects aimed at understanding and supporting ways to enhance the quality of life for older Canadians and those who provide support. Read more
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Counting is ‘For the Birds’
CARP is once again supporting the annual Great Backyard Bird Count Canada, in association with Bird Studies Canada, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Audubon Society in the USA...CARP members are encouraged to get outside, or just spend some time at the window and share your count. Read more
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Political/Charitable Giving Poll
Report
A majority of members feel majority governments should take the concerns of the opposition into account when drafting legislation, and a majority disagree a majority government has the right to pass any legislation it wants, regardless of opposition input. Read more
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