Reporter interviews Bill Barrowclough, retired income trust investor from Peterborough. I was able to get Bill a private meeting with Jim Flaherty, which almost ended in disaster.
My thanks to these people who drove and flew to Ottawa overnight Sunday and Monday morning so they could stand up for a cause, for themselves, their families, and hundreds of thousands of others. They all spoke in a media conference held in the press theatre in the Centre Block of the House of Commons, and did exceptionally well.
How much of an impact was measureable in the fact that Jim Flaherty agreed to meet a representative in theovernment lobby outside the House of Commons. And while they did not resolve snything in that encounter, our man – Bill Barrowclough – was able to speak passionately and eloquently about the impact the Cosnervative about-face on income trusts has had on the families of regular retired working folks.
Here are the heroes:
William Barrowclough, 64
Widower, retired school teacher, Peterborough, Ont.
Jean-Marie Lapointe, 61
Retired bank branch manager and trucking company general manager, Sorel-Tracy, Que.
David Marshall, 69 (wife, Lorraine)
Retired truck driver and chemical operator, Cornwall, Ont.
Werner Sykora, 62
Retired engineer, Kingston, Ont., managing money for parents, in 90s
Joan Gladwell, 52
Part-time consultant, part-time university student, Kingston, Ont.
Georg Murison, 68
Retired cash crop farmer and engineer, Omemee, Ont.
Yvonne Murison, 67
Self-employed, home maker, Omemee, Ont.
Geoffrey Laxton, 41
Stock broker and investor, Hamilton, Ont.
Alexander Irwin, 45
Founder of Canadian Retired & Income Investors’ Association, Vancouver BC
Brent Fullard, 53
Investment industry exec, founder Cdn Association of Income Trust Investors, Toronto
Don Francis, 67
Retired science teacher and upset NDP supporter, Ottawa
MPtv taped the half-hour media conference, and to view it, click here.
21 comments ↓
Dear Mr. Turner, thank you for taking up the income trusts cause. My wife and I are one of the millions of Canadians who need to have our own pension and were totally blindsided by Flaherty and Harper. I have tried to contact Mr. Flaherty for months with no reply. With many things one the trust issue, he is outright liar. One month before the last election I talked to Harper directly and then finance critic Monty Solberg. Solberg phoned me twice in one day assuring me the Conservatives new that trusts were a very important issue to retirees and assured me if elected the Conservatives were in full support of trusts. On Oct 27 of this past year I talked to Myron Thompson our M.P. and he assured me that there was no change in the conservative agenda. Two weeks later he voted for the government which is the direct opposite of what they had all told me. I questioned Myron on it after and he said if he did not vote for it they would throw him out.I said that I thought that he had more integrity than that and have not talked to him since.We are long time conservative members and feel absolutely betrayed by our government. We now have no one to believe in. Thank you once again for representing millions of main street Canadians Ken
It’s also worth considering the movement of money from income trusts to equities also benefited investors as well. The TSX composite for instance is up substantially (~5%) since Oct. 31st. Another lesson that a well balanced portfolio is always the way to go.
You got an article in the Globe and the Mail.
Just call me jealous,
-R
Hey Garth, the videos don’t seem to be up on the mpTV site. Am I doing something wrong?
And to Angello P: Remember that what seniors want and need is the secure monthly distributions that income trusts generate, and so balancing a senior’s porfolio with traditional equities takes away those payments.
Patience! They are coming. — Garth
OMG! The Manulife CEO is going to make a submission? On who’s behalf? He’s nothing more than a CON appointee who wanted trusts gone in order to keep selling their lame financial products! Note his payoff below. I’m sure Harpers and Flaherty’s directorships will be forthcoming…
Company Management
Dominic D’Alessandro
President and Chief Executive Officer
President and Chief Executive Officer of Manulife Financial since January 1994, Blah Blah blah…
In November 2006, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper named Mr. D’Alessandro to the Advisory Committee on the Public Service of Canada, and in June 2006 appointed him to NAFTA’s North American Competitiveness Council. more balh blah blah…
What a joke. Bring on the election so the people can have their say and rid our Parliament of these rodents!
All I can say Garth, is Thank You! You’ve given a voice to those of us the government refuses to listen to. Keep up the good work!
Thank you Garth. Finally a person to stand up for us seniors against the liars in Harper and Flaherty. Keep up the good work. Yours truly Don Metcalfe Hanover Ont.
Seniors really appreciate the effort you have made for our cause. Would you consider a little walk across the floor so that Harper & Flaherty will be a little more co-operative on this issue? LOL
This whole debate is CRAP and everyone here knows it. If everyone were allowed to defer 100% of their earnings and cash out at retirement then where would we get the money to pay for social programs now? As for the seniors, I have no pity for you if you invested more than 5% of your portfolio in the highly risky income trusts. Get a decent financial planner! Technically you should not have lost more than 2.5% of your portfolio.
The more I read from Conservative supporters, the more I despair. Their logic is flawed, their reasoning is pathetic and their ticky-tacky arguements all look the same. Collectively, in writing and speech, they come across as a thuggish gang. Perhaps I am being unfair…judging by the intellectual vacuity and monotonous drone of their posts, they may all be written by two or three paid hacks. But, I have to admit, the appearance of these ratty posts are much like the ill-dressed, mouthy, headphone twirling, paunchy gutted Blues-Brothers, facade that they project. Canada is at risk.
KPK: Maybe so, but how would I pay for my food if I deferred all my earnings to my retirement account? I’d love to have a solid nest egg, but I’d like to be able to eat too.
It’s somewhat surreal to see Geoffrey Laxton finally get a mic and have so little to say!
Nice conference Garth, stick it to em.
As to your question in the HoC, why did you not address the bundling of the income splitting and income trusts in your question? It would have been less difficult for flaherty to just say ’shut up you voted for it’ had it been phrased differently. No?
Joan makes an excellent point — what savings vessel are we supposed to use. The 3-4% gic’s are LESS than the rate of local inflation here. Every year I save, I seem to get further from being able to afford a house.
Solutions?
Garth, what did you mean by:
“I was able to get Bill a private meeting with Jim Flaherty, which almost ended in disaster.”
What kind of disaster?
Thanks, Garth, for bringing this issue to Ottawa today.
I do, however, have one question regarding the following:
“David Marshall, 69 (wife, Lorraine)”
Everyone except Lorraine had their names in bold. ??? I suppose it was because she was just David’s wife.
The line should have been
David and Lorraine Marshall
Lorraine did not wish to be prominent in any way – she was there to support Dave, and was not speaking. The people whose names were in bold and on their own were those of the speakers. — Garth
Way to go Garth and everyone for a job well done!
Besides the flip-flopping, one thing that bothers me is that the Government claims they are losing taxes because the Trusts aren’t paying them.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Trust investors pay a higher rate of tax than the Corporate rate do they not? Someone in the video said the final rate for Corps. was about 6%. Seems to me that I pay alot more than that! Flagerty said that he hoped to reduce Corporate tax down the road, so wouldn’t that defeat his own logic?
Also, lets not forget the hundreds of thousands of investors out there who are paying individual income tax rates on income from Trusts on an annual basis. Its not just a case of the Government having to wait on taxes from RSP holdings.
This is a reply to KPK (message above)
Dear SIR, stop insulting income trusts holders… you are either totally ignorant…or envious…or ??? or worse!
Frankly I admired these investors who went in front of cameras today to represent the 4 Million canadians affected by this totally unjustifiable move of a lying government!!!
Thanks Mr Garth from all of us!
I think a lot of people would be quite happy to have enough invested to be able to lose tens of thousands of dollars because of a long-overdue change in tax policy. Sure, there are individuals who overexposed themselves to income trusts in order to take advantage of a tax loophole and got themselves burned when it was closed, but that’s the nature of investing on the basis of accounting tricks rather than sound business practices. Caveat emptor, and don’t expect the rest of us to bail you out.
This is a reply to KPK (message above)
Dear SIR, stop insulting income trusts holders… you are either totally ignorant…or envious…or ??? or worse!
WORSE= YES ! A CONSERVATIVE.
Garth, what did you mean by:
“I was able to get Bill a private meeting with Jim Flaherty, which almost ended in disaster.â€
What kind of disaster?
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i think he was concerned that bill barrowclough was going to cork him.
i,m very thankful to the whole crew for a great presentation.i especially liked jean-marie and his telling it like it is-liers.
what a fantastic job the honourable garth turner has done giving the opportunity for ordinary canadians to have access to parliament and the media.
nice to be able to put the word honourable in front of a politicians name.
“I was able to get Bill a private meeting with Jim Flaherty, which almost ended in disaster.”
well…
If the RCMP presence had to move or appear to move between Bill and Jim because it may have appeared (perhaps) as if Bill was about to assault Jim (because Bill was PISSED!) then that would have ended in disaster. (that would SURE not look good on Garth!)
(how much of that is JUST my imagination, I don’t know, but reading between the lines the fact Jim offered a gentlemanly hand for a hand shake and Bill declined it usually does not bode well for any meaningful conversation or meeting.)
However, Garth tells us they spoke and agreed to disagree that kind of thing, in a sort of civilized way, it was reported.
IMHO
D
CBCNewsWorld just played video from the event.