Waiting for Public Pensioners to Die - Dunderdale's Policy Choice

Sometimes the "shock and awe" approach is the only thing left to fight an obvious injustice and unfairness.

Such is the case with Newfoundland and Labrador Public Sector Pensioners'.

I understand their Association (NLPSPA) held a public meeting last night in St. John's and there was a full house. Apparently Jim Morgan was a speaker and rallied the troops - to take action to get resolve.

I also spoke at a similar event of theirs a few years back and suggested the same things - a real action against government - until an equitable resolution was found.

This group comprises of many who dedicated their lives and careers to public service - at a time when oil was not the player it is now.

There is no question or argument to be had to deny these individuals a living pension with increases that reflect the actual cost of living - today - not based on 20 years ago.

You see this problem was caused by a number of things - Joey Smallwood did not collect premiums from workers - Frank Moores collected and then spent all the employee contributions for operations of government such as roads, bridges, hospitals, and schools - Peckford who stopped spending the contributions but did nothing to start refunding the unfunded mess left by the first two - Clyde Wells who did the actuarial studies that identified the mess of the pension plans - Brian Tobin and Roger Grimes who began the process of funding the unfunded and underfunded portions for future pensioners and Danny Williams who carried on with the refunding of the plans with monies accrued from the federal Martin administration (all since lost because of the Harper administration) and the market meltdown. None of them however have done anything to index the pensions for those who lost that investment potential when government spent all their premiums.

Yes this is a mess and Dunderdale - as with Williams - has the ability to do something about it with oil money - yet have decided instead to wait for these pensioners to die. Does that sound harsh, jaw-dropping, even cruel? Well these are our realities and the "shock and awe" of the statement should be delivered to the public and MHA's on a daily basis. Insurance, pensions, and other financial instruments are all based on actuarials defining life expectancy of you and me. There really is no other way to determine the future costs of pensions and the ability of plans to survive.

People who have just been pensioned or are on that cusp are working with their unions - such as NAPE and CUPE to ensure they will have a livable pension and show very little concern for those living - in many cases - below the poverty line.

Kathy Dunderdale, Cabinet, and Caucus should deal with the plight of these people - but they know by the numbers - that most of the problem will expire within a couple of terms of government. The Unions know the same thing. The question is - will our society work toward ignoring this unfairness or will we all stand up and instruct our governments and unions to allow these people to live the rest of their lives comfortably - without having to choose between heat and food - or clothing and gas?

In many respect this is not dissimilar to the fishery - and the social experimental number crunching that sees government policy both federal and provincial remove relatively small numbers of people year over year from that industry - so as not to cause an uproar or political war. Destroying one community at a time seems to be the plan - so that there are never enough to stand together and protest - for fear if they did their community would be next. Yes we have seen tens of thousands of people leave our province - displaced by government mismanagement of the resource - with their elderly parents left behind. This in turn places additional strain on the budget as the family structure of care is stripped away piece by piece.

Kathy Dunderdale shows very little promise of developing policies that will serve us well over the short medium or long term. The Premier has missed many significant opportunities to find efficiencies and divert savings into programs which could save our fiscal behind and allow our population to thrive in the future and in retirement. Dunderdale and her colleagues are too engrossed with partisan politics to accept very good and well meaning advice - choosing instead to enrich those who tow the line - regardless of how weathered and weak that line may be.

Unfortunately - despite the very large potential of the pensioners' voice - the association itself remains politically cautious and therefore unsuccessful.

Equally as unfortunate - the politicians of the day - are more concerned about thumping the dented desks in the House of Assembly - than hearing the voices of reason and compassion.

Newfoundland and Labrador had better change it's partisan ways very soon - or another generation will be left with crippling debt, inferior resource contracts, incalculable social needs, and no ability to build a way back out.

Meanwhile - the pensions and benefits of politicians continue to be superior. No need to worry there.