AGM & INFO MEETING REPORT
Both of these meetings took place as scheduled. Since the AGM was in Kingston, with the large area population of DuPont/INVISTA retirees, attendance was in the 150+ range which is appreciated by Board members who contribute significant personal time to these events. While the presence of those who attended the Oakville meeting is appreciated, the numbers were disappointing and this gives reason to question scheduling future meetings in the Oakville area.
Both meetings followed the advertised agendas with no unusual items raised from the floor. The appointment of Janice Daley, Dennis Hamilton, & Seymour Trachimovsky as Directors was confirmed along with the reappointment of Jim Millier whose term had been completed. The Board also recognized the contributions of resigning Directors Jerry Fox, Chick Cecchini, and Mike Lansdown. Jerry and Chick were both involved in DIPAC's formation.
Considerable emphasis and discussion took place around how best to maximize member participation in our various campaigns to register our priorities with federal MPs and provincial MPPs. The effort of those who have participated to date is appreciated BUT falls far short of the level needed to REALLY REGISTER with the politicians.
In the next few months we will need to again ask you to get involved. We expect to soon see the initial "draft" Regulations opposite the Ontario Pension Benefits Act legislation changes recently enacted. These Regulations will detail how the legislation will be enforced and therefore we fully expect we will have important '"fine-tuning" recommendations to suggest. Having these accepted will require convincing the politicians. And this need will happen in a time frame where many/most politicians will be pre-occupied by the upcoming fall provincial election.
We also fully expect there will be further effort to persuade the federal government of the need to implement legislative reform opposite the status of pension plan deficits in bankruptcy proceedings. Here too your involvement will be critical to influencing the correction of the current highly risky situation faced by many pension plans, including ours. If a plan is under-funded and the sponsor initiates restructuring under bankruptcy provisions, reduced pension benefits can be the outcome for the pensioners covered by that plan. Not a very comforting thought is it ?
We are committed to continuing to try to make this involvement as easy and convenient as possible.
