This government must stop lecturing Canadians about what more they can do and focus on making serious changes to ease the burden on families and communities - James Clancy, NUPGE national president.
Ottawa (15 Feb. 2011) The Conservative government’s Task Force on Financial Literacy, chaired by Donald Stewart, CEO of Sun Life Financial Inc., released its report to the Minister of Finance following its consultations in 2010.
The report contains over 30 recommendations yet not one focuses on easing the financial burden on Canadians. The majority revolve around “teaching” Canadians about finances, using current communication tools to get information into the hands of the public or looking for avenues to improve and centralize these tools and information. A few focus on what lenders and industry can do to make understanding financial terms and implications of borrowing.
“We’ve been waiting nine months for these recommendations. And all we have is the message that if only Canadians read more, had more access to information, they would be alright,” responded James Clancy, NUPGE national president. “That’s not what Canadians told the Task Force they wanted and certainly not the kind of help we need.”
“Educating the public about finances, even at a young age as the report recommends, is good. Giving them a fighting chance to keep some savings in their bank accounts - through reduced banking fees, lower credit card interest rates or regulating industries that are gouging people - would be impressive.”
Canadians are still recovering from the worst economic collapse in decades. Many people are still having a difficult time finding decent paying, permanent jobs despite their unemployment benefits running out.
Yet, most recently, we’ve seen the Conservative government, despite an almost majority consensus with the provinces run away from a plan to improve and expand the Canada Pension Plan.
Worse yet, the Finance Minister has decided instead that Canadians should invest in private pension plans as a way to secure their future. These are the same plans whose bottoms fell out in 2008 and are run by the same bankers and financial industry managers who caused the financial collapse.
“Canadians need concrete changes to the financial industry to provide more financial security now and in the future,” said Clancy. “It can start by reversing the $6 billion corporate tax cuts scheduled for this year. This government must stop lecturing Canadians about what more they can do, stop spending time on commissions and recommendations that don’t amount to real relief and focus on making serious changes to ease the burden on families and communities.”
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE
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