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Pension Accrual Rate Issue
THE 2003 LEGISLATIVE LOBBY
President Alex Forrest and Board Member Russ Morrow congratulate Finance Minister John Manley for enacting the increased pension accrual rate for firefighters from 2.0% to 2.33%.
For over ten years our Union has been sending representatives to Ottawa to meet with our Members of Parliament Senators and Federal Bureaucrats to push for Legislative Changes for Firefighters. I have personally been attending these meetings for six years.
The Pension Accrual Rate Issue was first put to the politicians in 1999 and at that time almost every Liberal Member of Parliament told us that it would be very difficult to make such a change to the Income Tax Act exclusively for fire fighters.
We did not take no for an answer and year after year when we returned to Ottawa we continued to ask for the Pension Increase. Every year we were turned down, however, every year we saw more and more Members of Parliament and Senators supporting our cause. As everyone now knows, our success was achieved in the budget speech of 2003.
I was joined at this year’s Legislative Lobby by Brothers Russ Morrow and Rob Labossiere, and in previous years Executive Board Members Dave Naaykens and Jim Henderson made the trek to Ottawa for meeting after meeting. This year the Legislative Lobby was very successful as we solidified the increased pension accrual rate and witnessed the second reading of an important piece of criminal legislation to protect fire fighters who fight fires in illegal drug operations.
While in Ottawa we were informed that the Federal Government was funding the Province of Manitoba for Haz Mat equipment and training. This funding will be combined with that of the Provincial and Municipal Governments so that we will receive training and proper equipment including Decontamination Units for the City of Winnipeg.
Our political action is not over, as we have many other issued to deal with.
On behalf of the Executive I would like to thank the membership for its support of our programs and our efforts in political action. The successes that we have had in our dealings with all three levels of government are a result of the solidarity and support of the union membership.
Alex Forrest
President, Chair Political Action